Never Let You Go
by Nerd-Herd-27
Summary: <html><head></head>When one of their cases uncovers a huge child-selling operation, Liv is kidnapped. Can Elliot find her in time to tell her how he feels? Can they deal with the aftermath, as well as catching the leader of the operation, or will someone get caught in the crossfire? Perhaps Olivia will finally get the family she's always wanted. Elliot/Olivia. Some violence, but no adult content.</html>
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, everyone! This is my first ever fan fiction. I like to write, but I don't have much time on the computer, so I won't be updating as frequently as I would like. If you're someone who can't stand waiting for an update (like me) this may not be the story for you. This chapter is short, I know, but I would really appreciate reviews if you have time, because I want to know how I can improve my writing. Even if it's just a grammar mistake (those annoy me too, don't worry) feel free to tell me so I can fix it. Okay, since I never read these author's notes myself, I might as well shut up now. Enjoy!**

Why did he let her go?

This was his fault; of that he was convinced. He didn't even argue.

He let her go.

He didn't go with her. He could have gone. In fact, it probably would have been smarter to follow Olivia into the dark, eerie room where the victim was being held. There had been no reason for him to stay and keep watch, waiting the excruciatingly long ten minutes he had promised her, before he burst in to find her...gone.

He let her go.

He had one job: protect Olivia. Never mind catching the bad guys. She was always his priority, whether he liked it or not.

He thought back to when he had let that monster slit the throat of a little boy because he was checking on the safety of his partner. He had put her safety first then. Why hadn't he this time?

Liv had done _her_ job. She had protected him. And she had gone to help the victim. Why was she being punished? Why not him? Why?

_ You let her go._

"No. Not Liv."

_ But it's true. It's your fault she's missing. If you had been paying attention, she would be here right now. And so would the victim, and the perp..._

"No. No, no, no, no..."

_ She would smile at you with those big, brown eyes sparkling, and she would say, "Nice job, El. We got 'em." And then you would tell her what you wanted so desperately to say before you let her go._

"No! Liv!" He shouted falling to his knees as the guilt burned a hole in his stomach. He felt like he could be sick. Heck, he felt like he could die. He stayed there on his knees, his face in his hands, until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, El. We're gonna find her," Fin said, helping the distraught detective to his feet. Elliot was still shaking his head, staring blankly at the ground.

_Why did he let her go?_

**Fifteen minutes earlier**

"Okay, Liv. Ready?"

Elliot took a deep breath, trying not to let his partner see the fear behind his overly-confident exterior. But she'd always been able to see right through him, more than anyone else.

"I don't know, El. I've got a bad feeling about this..."

"I know what you mean. This place gives me the creeps." He tried for a smile. "I'll bet it's an ideal vacation spot for the guys we're looking for."

Olivia smiled at his weak attempt to lighten the mood. She took a deep, calming breath and placed her hand on her gun. Elliot did the same, and they looked at each other, silent communication passing between them.

"I'll go," Elliot said, finally breaking the silence.

"No way, Stabler," she replied. Elliot secretly admired her courage as she moved closer to the door. "You've got a mother, a wife-"

"Ex-wife," he corrected automatically.

"-and five children who love you and want you to come home," she continued, as if he hadn't interrupted. Then she smiled sadly. "Nobody will miss me."

She made for the door, but Elliot grabbed her arm. There were so many things he could have said. _The Captain will miss you. Fin and Munch will miss you. Alex and Casey will miss you. Huang and Warner will miss you._ But did he say that? No. What he _did_ say was:

"I'll miss you."

She stopped and turned to look at him, intense emotion in her deep, dark eyes as she struggled with the words that were sitting readily on her lips. So many things she wanted to say to him. So many things she couldn't say to him. Most of them started with, "if something happens to me, I want you to know..."

But just as she opened her mouth to speak, a scream from inside brought her back to reality. She pried his fingers from her arm and opened the door, which groaned in protest from rusted hinges.

"Stay here in case they try to escape," she ordered, "and call for backup if I'm not back in ten minutes."

She left before he could protest.

And just like that, she was gone, leaving Elliot staring after her, whispering,

"Be safe."

_ Why did he let her go?_


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm very happy right now, because for once I was able to get the computer long enough to update. Though my geometry homework suffered because of it, I think it was worth it...:) I write everything on my iPod touch, but I can only upload it to through a computer, so that's why it's going to take awhile for me to update. And the spacing may be messing up, so I apologize for that. And now, without further ado, I present chapter two! (Hey, that rhymes!)  
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**Oh, and I forgot to do the disclaimer last time. I own nothing. (Which makes me feel like a Communist...except we don't share ownership; only Dick Wolf owns it...)**

Olivia walked through the door of the building, staying low and keeping her eyes open for the girl she had heard scream only moments before. There was something wrong here, she thought, but she couldn't place it. Was it the eerie silence of the seemingly abandoned building that made her so uneasy? Maybe. But there was no doubt in her mind that something was wasn't right.

She looked carefully around a door frame and saw what they had come for. A girl of about eleven years was tied to a chair, hands and feet bound, and silent tears running down her face."I'm s-s-so sorry," the girl sobbed upon catching sight of Olivia, her head hanging in shame. "They m-made me do it. They said if I d-didn't scream, they would k-kill me! I'm so s-sorry."

Olivia picked up her radio to call for backup and an ambulance, but before she could radio El, she felt the cool metal of a gun barrel press against the side of her head.

"Don't move." The voice was enough to send shivers down her spine. It was like it's owner spent his free time gargling drain cleaner. Olivia's shoulders tensed as he breathed down her neck. "I'll splatter your brains against that wall if you don't cooperate."

"There are officers surrounding this building, awaiting my command," Olivia lied, praying he would buy it. "You'd be dead before I hit the floor."

The man chuckled humorlessly.

"Well, let's put their minds to rest, then," he said. "Pick up the radio and tell them everything's fine. One false move, and you're dead. The girl too." He gestured to the terrified captive in the chair. Olivia raised her hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay, just leave the girl alone." She picked up her radio with trembling fingers and fumbled with the buttons. "A-all clear so far, El. Just a couple more rooms to check." She held her breath until his scratchy reply was heard over the sound of the perp's ragged breathing.

"Any sign of the perp?" he asked anxiously.

"He seems to have..." she paused as she tried to think of a way to tell her partner she needed help, but the gun pressed harder into her temple. "He seems to have left. I-I'll tell you when I find the girl."

"Okay, be careful. I thought I saw some movement earlier."

Olivia nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see her, and winced as the barrel pressed into her skull.

"Bye, El," she whispered.

As soon as he thought her finger had left the button, the perp removed the gun. She sighed in relief until he pulled the weapon back and brought it down on her skull. She gasped in surprise and he covered he mouth before she could shout in pain. She fell in a heap on the cement floor.  
>Olivia closed her eyes and the darkness crashed down all around her as she slipped into unconsciousness.<p>

"What happened?" Cragen asked as Elliot walked into the precinct. Elliot sighed. That's all anyone cared about. What happened. Didn't they see that he was trying to figure that out? It was killing him, not knowing. He had to find her. But he knew that he had to tell the captain what he knew before he started looking. "Start from the beginning."

"Well it all started when Krissy Douglas came to the precinct a couple days ago. She was really upset, but Liv calmed her down and convinced her to tell us what happened." His mind drifted to how amazing Liv was with the victims, especially the kids. He loved that about her. Her compassion and empathy. Liv had a heart of gold, no doubt about it.

"Elliot," said Munch, snapping his fingers in front of El's face and bringing him out of his trance.

"Sorry. Um, where was I? Oh, yeah, so Liv got Krissy to talk to us, and it was horrible. She said that a man took her from the street and brought he to this abandoned building, where they 'hurt' her. We asked her how she had escaped, and she said that she ran when 'the others' were making a distraction."

"The others?" the Captain asked, eyes narrowing. Elliot nodded.

"That's when we began to suspect there was more going on than Krissy was telling us. This was way bigger than that. But when we asked her about it, she started crying and said that she'd promised not to tell. We tried to convince her she was safe now, but she was sure that they couldfind her again. We decided to so some investigating, and we found the abandoned building that they took Krissy to. It looked empty, so Liv decided to go in while I kept watch outside..."

He stopped his story and looked down in shame.

"El..."

"I didn't need to wait outside. We could've both gone in."

"And then two of my best detectives would be missing instead of one," the Captain said, patting Eliot's shoulder. As much as Cragen wanted his favorite detective back, he knew that nobody was more upset about her dissappearance than Stabler.

"She went in," Elliot continued, "and told me to wait ten minutes. About five minutes later, she called on her radio to say everything was okay, and that she thought the perp has cleared out. She said goodbye, and it sounded so...final..." He trailed off.

"Did you notice anything strange about what she said?" Cragen asked patiently.

"Well, she sounded different, but I couldn't figure out why..." then Elliot realized what Cragen was thinking. "Oh my gosh. You think they made her send that transmission, don't you?" The familiar sense of blame was settling on Elliot again, weighing him down. "How could I have missed that? What if she was sending me a secret message?"

"Here are the radio transmissions you asked for, sir," said a voice from somewhere on Elliot's right. "I cleaned them up so we can check or background noise."

"Thanks," Cragen said absently to the computer crimes guy. "Stabler. Find Huang and see if he'll go over that tape with you. Maybe he can find some emotional tells in her voice or something."

Elliot nodded, glad to have something to do. He grabbed Huang and went into one of the interrogation rooms. Truthfully, he was scared to listen to those tapes. He wanted information, but he was afraid of finding out what he had missed. He took a deep breath, which didn't pass unnoticed by Huang, and began playing the recording.

_"A-all clear so far, El. Just a couple more rooms to check."_

Huang immediately noticed the fear in her voice, and so did Elliot. The stutter, the worried tone, how could he have missed it? He paused the tape to steel himself again, and this time Huang decided to speak up.

"These things tend to seem obvious when you're looking for them, but they're almost impossible to see in a normal situation. You would have to be extremely perceptive."

Elliot wanted to be angry at Dr. Huang, but he couldn't bring himself to shout. Instead he just felt more depressed than ever.

"George, when it comes to Olivia, I AM extremely perceptive. I should have seen this coming."

"El, you're no help to Olivia when you're being angry with yourself. You can have time for that after we find her," Huang said, trying a new method. This time it seemed to get through to Elliot, and he started the tape again.

_"Any sign of the perp?" _Elliot's voice rang out on the tape recorder.

_"He seems to have..."_

"Wait!" Elliot said, pausing the recorder. "Did you hear that?" Huang shook his head and Elliot rewound it.

"Her voice suggests that she is deep in thought. Possibly thinking of a way to say something to you," Dr. Huang pointed out.

"Yeah. Now listen to right after she pauses."

This time they both heard it. A sharp intake of breath on Liv's end. Elliot's mind worked furiously. The perp probably had a gun to her head, otherwise she wouldn't have agreed to pretend everything was okay. So the gasp was from...the perp reminding her to keep it to the script. He must have been pressing the weapon harder into her skull. Elliot shared this theory with Huang, who agreed, and played the tape again.

_"He seems to have left. I-I'll tell you when I find the girl."_

Pain flashed across Elliot's face as he recognized the fear in her voice. It scared him. Liv never let her fear show, unless she was really in trouble. And if she was letting her fear show now...

No! He would not be logical! Liv was fine. He would find her, and he would tell her what he tried to say before he let her go.

_"Okay, be careful. I thought I saw some movement earlier."_

_It's a little late for that, Stabler,_ Elliot thought sarcastically.

_"Bye, El."_ Her angel's voice was no more than a whisper.

Huang heard Elliot's breath catch in his chest. Tears were beginning to pool in his eyes, and Huang's jaw nearly dropped. He had seen Elliot upset for so many reasons. He had seen him feeling angry at perps, he had seen him feeling empathy for the victims, and he had seen him downright depressed when he thought his wife was taking his kids from him. But never, as long as he'd known him, had he seen him cry. He tried to stay out of Psychiatrist-mode and in concerned-friend-mode as he clapped Elliot on the shoulder.

"We'll find her."

Elliot just nodded, cleared his throat, and stood to leave. He stopped suddenly in his tracks and sat back down.

"Wait a second..."

He played the recording again and eliminated the voices so that there was only background noise. He heard Liv's fast breathing and his own, but also a third. He heard a man on Liv's end taking deep, ragged breaths.  
>Then, after she said goodbye, he realized there was more. A gasp, a thud, and a hastily muffled yelp of pain that was cut short. And then the transmission ended.<p>

"Oh, no."

"Elliot-"

"No..."

Logic and fear battled for dominance in Elliot's mind. There was no gunshot, logic told him. The perp hadn't killed her. He couldn't have.

"Elliot, for all we know he could've just hit her. She's probably fine."

"You don't know that!"

Elliot desperately wanted to believe that Liv was okay, but all his mind would process was that he had been talking to Liv, there had been a gasp, a thud, and a hushed cry of pain, and then no Liv. He couldn't think about the fact that Liv was almost definitely not dead. Because there was a chance that she _was_ dead. And that small chance shook him to his core and turned his blood to ice.

Elliot was on his feet now. His breathing was fast and uneven, and Huang wondered if he was going to hyperventilate.

"I'm going to see...how CSU...is doing," he said in between gasps. Dr. Huang was really concerned now.

"Elliot!" Huang called, but El just ran from the room. He jumped into his car and sped to the building- he refused to refer to it as a crime scene. When he arrived, he found a young-looking forensics guy named Jack and asked him if they found anything.

"Well, we think we found where Miss. Benson was taken from..."

"Detective Benson," Elliot corrected, almost smiling as he remembered a conversation he'd had with Liv. 'I hate being called "Miss" Benson,' she had said. 'I worked hard to get this job. The least they can do is try not to make me feel like a kindergarten teacher.'

"Sorry, Detective Benson I mean." The smile quickly slid off Elliot's face.

"Show me where it happened."

As they walked down the empty halls, Elliot kept his eyes open for evidence.

"How do you know it's where he kidnapped her?" Elliot asked curiously. "She probably left fingerprints in all of the rooms. She was searching for the victim."

"Well..." Jack started nervously. "We, uh, found some blood."

Elliot stopped as if he had run face-first into an invisible wall.

"Not nearly enough to be fatal, Detective Stabler. The odds of the injury killing her are extremely rare," he said quickly, fearing the detective's response.

"Show me," he said, fighting to keep his breathing under control. _In. Out. In. Out. You're no use to Liv when you're passed out on the floor._

They got to the room where that monster had taken Olivia, and Elliot could have sworn the temperature dropped twenty degrees. He felt a bit dizzy when he saw the blood smeared on the floor.

"Based on the direction of the smearing...he took her that way," said Elliot, pointing. "He dragged her by her feet..."

Jack didn't have the heart to tell him they already knew all this. This detective needed to figure something out or he would go crazy.

"...and pulled her out this door." Elliot walked through the door and winced. The smooth, cold floor had turned to rough concrete, and he could almost feel the grating on his skull as he thought of how much it would hurt for her injured head to be dragged across the sandpaper-like floor.  
>He noticed more red marks on the floor and he saw where that monster had dragged her bloodied head across the cement. He saw a flaw in the scarlet pattern and asked Jack what had happened there.<p>

"It looks like...the perp kicked her, and she rolled over, creating the inconsistency in the blood and the partial footprint."

Elliot pictured his partner being kicked in the side, hard enough to make her limp body roll over.

"At that point, she regained consciousness. You see where she tried to lift her head to avoid the scraping, but was too week to lift it any longer."

Elliot couldn't get that image out of his head. The perp's foot slamming into Olivia, her face scraping the floor. Suddenly he jumped to his feet and ran as far from the crime scene as he could before retching violently and losing the rest of his lunch to the concrete floor.  
>Jack looked concerned, but Elliot stood up when he was finished, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.<p>

"Then what happened?"

Olivia woke up in a room similar to the one she was knocked out in. She groaned in pain as the feeling in her head and face came roaring back. How had she injured her face? She suddenly remembered being dragged across the rough cement floor in a garage of sorts. The side of her face had been grating against the concrete. She had tried to lift her head, but the darkness was closing in on her. She had lost consciousness and her head had slammed back to the ground in defeat.

As she fought to force her eyes open, she thought she saw movement next to her. Her eyes snapped open then, but she had to lift a hand to shield them as the harsh light stabbed at her brain. She groaned again, but quieter, ready to be under attack at any moment. But what stared back at her, when she was able to stand the brightness, was two pairs of huge eyes. Two children.

One was a girl of about fifteen, one a little boy that couldn't be older than four. The girl gasped when she saw Olivia staring back at her. The little boy just kept staring, his big, blue eyes looking past her face and into her soul. The girl finally opened her mouth and said,

"Guys, you can come out now. She's awake."


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so I know the spacing was messed up on the last chapter, so I'm praying it's fixed by now. This chapter took me forever to write, especially after I was grounded from my iPod Touch, my primary writing tool since my sister is a computer hog. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! I now present: Chapter three! *applause***

**Disclaimer: If I owned SVU, or any of the characters, do you really think I'd be writing fan fiction?**

"Guys, you can come out now. She's awake."

Shadows shifted all around, and figures moved into Olivia's sight. Besides the little boy, they were all between the ages of ten and twenty, and there were about twenty of them in all. Suddenly, everything came rushing back to her. Krissy Douglas...She had told them about 'the others'...The man with the gun...Saying goodbye to Elliot...What she had almost said to him...No. That's not important right now. What _was_ important was how she was going to get out of here, and how she could help the girls, boys, and young women who stared back at her with eyes full of fear. She cleared her throat and began her interrogation, wincing when her voice came out hoarse.

"Do you know Kristine Douglas?"

A boy of around twelve stepped forward eagerly.

"Krissy? You've seen her? Did she make it out?"

Olivia nodded, which made her vision go blurry again for a second as her head throbbed, and looked up at the young boy.

"I'm a detective with the Special Victims Unit. She came to our precinct and told us she was attacked, but didn't give us any more information. Do you know her?"

"She's my sister," the boy said, smiling. "My name is Charlie Douglas. She tried to take me with her, but...I-I was bad. I was in the bad room. I told her to leave without me. I'm so glad she's okay!"

"We took her to a safe place, where only my partner and I can find her. She didn't want to go home. She said "they" would come back for her. Who's "they"? Where are we?"

"We're in the pound," a teenage girl stated blankly.

"The pound?"

"If they don't like us, or we haven't been picked yet, we go to the pound until we get adopted by a new family."

Liv looked around, and took in her surroundings for the first time. The girl was right- it did look like a pound. There were blankets on the concrete that looked like they were barely fit for a dog's bed, and there were even a couple dog cages. She tried to stand up so she could look around some more, but once she got to her feet the room started spinning and she felt cool arms trying to support her. Once she was on the floor again, she looked up at the thirteen-year-old-girl who had helped her.

"You're the girl from the other room..." she said dazedly.

"I-I-I'm so sorry! They made me do it! I didn't know!" She stuttered fearfully. Then she raised her hands in front of her face defensively, as if she fully expected Olivia to hit her. Olivia was moved with pity for the girl who trembled before her.

"Shh, it's okay," she muttered softly. "It's not your fault. You didn't have a choice. I'm not mad at you."

The girl slowly lowered her hands, then timidly sat down next to Olivia. Liv rubbed her arm comfortingly until she calmed down. Then she tried for a smile as she addressed the rest of the group.

"Everything's going to be okay. My partner...he'll find us. Then I'll get you out of here. All of you." She said it like a promise, but it was really more like a prayer.

Before Olivia could continue her pep talk, a door opened and all the other prisoners scattered like mice, as if they thought they could meld into the shadows and escape the man that entered. He was tall and muscular, with a blank expression that showed he felt no remorse for what he was doing.

"Numbers 56, 43, 25, 52, 19, 31, 27, 41, 18, 26, 52, 29, 38 and 21. You have all been chosen for new homes. Come with me."

Everybody heard the unspoken "Or else," after the large man's words.

Most of the prisoners that were called stood with trembling legs and went quietly, but one of the younger girls refused to move. The man lifted her right off the ground, and the girl kicked and screamed as loud as she could.

"NO! No, don't make me! Please, no!"

Olivia was about to rush to the girl's aid, but someone else beat her to it.

"Hey! The girl said no! Put her down!"

It was Charlie Douglas. He stood in the man's way, blocking the door, and glared at him with defiance sparking in his eyes. The burly man almost smiled.

"You've got spunk, kid. But if you don't move, I'll make you move."

Charlie stared determinedly into the man's eyes and spat.

Now he was mad. No, not just mad. Furious. He smacked Charlie across the face so hard, the boy fell to the floor from the force. Olivia was immediately on her feet, ignoring the pain, and sprinting to Charlie's side. The man was just bringing his foot back to kick Charlie while he was down when she knelt next to Charlie and lifted her hand in defense. He stopped in mid-kick.

"Stop!" she said loudly. "You already hit him. You don't need to hurt him anymore."

This time he really did smile, but it was more maniacal than gleeful. Suddenly, Olivia remembered why he looked so familiar.

"Detective Benson. So nice to see you again. How's your head?"

"Oh, I'm feeling much better," she spat. "It's almost like you never knocked me out in the first place."

"Oh, really?"

He lifted his foot slowly, then pressed it hard into her ribcage. Olivia let out a cry of pain that reverberated off the cement walls. She had forgotten that he had kicked her while dragging her to his car, but now there was no doubt in her mind that her ribs were bruised, if not broken.

"Still feeling_ fine_, Detective?" The man who had kidnapped Olivia grinned at the thought of causing her pain, then looked at his watch. "Oh, I should get going. Mr. Preston gets mad when we're late. See you around, Detective."

As soon as the many footsteps faded away, Olivia pulled herself into a sitting position to check on Charlie. He was laying on his side with his back to Olivia.

"Charlie, are you okay," she asked quietly. He sat up slowly, but he still wouldn't look at her.

"Charlie, that was very brave. You tried your best, but sometimes you can't protect everyone."

Charlie suddenly turned and threw his arms around Olivia. His shoulders shook as he wept quietly into her shirt.

"It's okay, Charlie. We are going to get out of here."

Charlie let go of Olivia's waist and looked up at her, wiping the tears from his eyes. She patted his shoulder and an understanding passed between them. They would do everything in their power to protect the others. And they _would_escape. They had to.

There were now only six or seven of them left. Olivia motioned for them to join her, and they all sat in a small circle on the floor.

"Why don't you tell me your names," she said in an attempt to cheer them up. They went around the circle, sharing names and stories. Some of them made Olivia want to cry. They were just kids, and they had been through enough pain and suffering to last them a lifetime.

"Julie Reynolds. I'm fifteen. I was walking to the gas station down the street to get some milk for dinner when somebody came and grabbed me from behind..."

"Cecilia Halter. Seventeen. I went to Saint Agnes's all girls private school. When I was sixteen, a man asked if I went to a Catholic school, and I said "yes." He said, "Good. Catholic school girls are a big hit. Innocent, you know?" and he put a rag on my face that smelled funny. Then I blacked out and woke up here..."

"My name's Gracie Davis. I'm eleven. The man covered my eyes so I couldn't see where I was going..."

"My name's Sarah Reilly. I'm thirteen. He knocked me out while I was on my way to the park. Then he took me to that building, and tied me up, and when you didn't come right away, he said I had to scream, or else he'd shoot..."

"Anna Walker. Fourteen. I've been here since I was eleven..."

"Georgiana Quincy, but they call me Georgie. I'm twelve. I thought after the first year it would get better, but..."

Then it was Olivia's turn.

"My name is Detective Olivia Benson, but you can call me Olivia. I was taken because my partner and I were investigating Krissy Douglas' kidnapping, and..." Now that Olivia thought about it, why _was _she kidnapped? She didn't see what they had to gain from her capture. "It doesn't really matter why they took me. What matters is that my partner, El, he'll find us. I know he will."

There was only one who hadn't said their name yet, and that was the youngest boy, the one who had been there when Liv woke up. He had brown hair and huge, soul-searching, blue eyes.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Olivia asked softly.

"Oh, that's Dominic. He doesn't talk much," said Charlie.

"He's only been here for a few weeks," Cecilia added. "Not long enough to get chosen."

_He looks a little like Calvin,_Olivia thought sadly. She felt a sudden, overwhelming desire to protect Dominic, even more than she wanted to protect the others. She scooted closer to him and smiled weakly.

"Hi, Dominic. I'm Olivia."

The little boy just stared at her with those huge blue eyes.

Then Olivia, Charlie, Anna, and Sarah huddled together to whisper about possible ways of escaping. While they were conversing, they heard the sound of shoes clapping on the ground outside the door and everyone but Olivia scattered again. Liv dragged herself into a corner just as the door opened to reveal a tall, strong-looking man. He looked so much like the other hefty warden-of-sorts that Olivia wouldn't have been surprised if they were twins. Just another blank face to beat up innocent children and send them to their possible, or maybe even probable, deaths.

"Where's the youngest Brat? Dominic, is it? It's time for your punishment."

Olivia watched in horror as one of the older girls nudged the little boy and he stumbled forward blankly. She felt as if a weight had been dropped on her chest. That boy, Dominic, was her responsibility now. She had to protect him. For a moment, his blue eyes locked with her's and she thought of Calvin's blue eyes. Of Elliot's...

Gathering up her courage, Olivia stood up as the man reached for Dominic.

"Stop!"

He froze and turned to her, smiling.

"Leave Dominic alone! He's four, what could he possibly do that requires punishment?" She said, her voice gaining strength. The man forgot all about Dominc and approached her instead.

"Ah, Olivia," he said. She hated the sound of her name on his tongue. "You really ARE all about the victims, aren't you? Are you really willing to take little Dominic's place?"

Olivia swallowed, analyzing her options. If she said yes, what would happen? Would they torture her...or worse? Would they even spare Dominic when they were done with her, or would they hurt him anyway? But the logic of it didn't matter. She couldn't be smart. Because if there was the smallest chance of keeping that little boy alive, she would take it.

"Yes," she said, willing her voice to stay strong. But it came out in a whisper, so quiet that the man couldn't hear her response. She cleared her throat and tried again. This time, her voice was loud and clear.

"I'll go with you. Just don't hurt him."

The well-muscled man smiled darkly and grabbed Olivia by the arm, yanking her to her feet. Her head throbbed, and her ribs screamed in protest as she attempted to stand, but she couldn't show weakness. Not now, when courage and endurance were her only weapons. She staggered after the man, following him into a room down the hall. Inside was a desk, a few chairs, and a man. He was tall and thin, and he wore a suit that looked like it cost a year's worth of paychecks. He smiled cruelly when Olivia walked in.

"Olivia, I'm so glad to see you! I was wondering when you'd come to tell me what I need to know."

Olivia didn't know what he was talking about, but she didn't ask. She didn't want to give that scum the satisfaction of an answer.

"My name is Alec Preston. I own this little business."

"Oh, so you call torturing and selling little kids a business?" Olivia spat without breaking eye contact. She kept telling herself, _This is just another perp. I'm in the interrogation room, and I'm questioning the bad guy so we can throw his disgusting carcass in jail. _

"Yes, Olivia, I do call it a business. I get the product, I sell it to the buyers, and I make money. What part of that is unlike a business?"

Olivia snorted.

"Um, maybe the part where you torture children?"

"Oh, that's all part of the industry, Olivia. Nobody likes to buy disobedient children, just like nobody wants to buy disobedient dogs. So we train them, and we reprimand them when they don't comply." He smiled menacingly. "But that's not why we're here, is it?"

He took a phone out of his pocket and dialed, his gaze never leaving Olivia's face.

"What are you doing?" she asked, trying to sound bold.

"I am going to make a call," he said, leaning forward. "And _you_ are going to tell me where you are hiding Krissy Douglas."

* * *

><p>Elliot sat at his desk, staring blankly at the files he'd already read multiple times and nearly memorized. He pounded the desk with his fist in frustration. They knew nothing. They had learned nothing. They weren't <em>going <em>to learn anything unless some new evidence turned up.

The distraught detective stood up and began pacing the floor again. How were they supposed to find Olivia when they didn't know what they were looking for? They couldn't search every building in the city! And if they could, Elliot would have started looking already. At least that would give him something to do, something to make himself useful.

His frantic thoughts were interrupted when his phone rang. He sighed, thinking, _This had better be important._

"Stabler."

"_El? Elliot?"_

Elliot stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening as he recognized the voice.

"Liv!"

* * *

><p>Olivia felt as if a weight had been taken off her chest as soon as she heard Elliot's voice.<p>

"El, I let my guard down. He had a gun to my head. He-"

"_Liv, stop blaming yourself, it was my fault. Are you okay? Did they hurt you? I swear, if they laid a finger on you, I'll-"_

"El, I'm fine. It's going to be okay."

Preston took the phone away at that point and spoke to Elliot.

"Actually, Detective, I think my friend hit her pretty hard on the way over here. Must've hurt a lot, don't you think?"

"_IF YOU TOUCH HER AGAIN, I SWEAR-"_

Olivia could hear Elliot's shouting from where she was tied up in the corner. Preston just smiled, happy he was causing so much stress on the detective.

"I won't harm her, Detective," Preston started. "That is…if you tell me what I need to know."

"Don't tell him, El! I'll be fine!" Olivia shouted.

"SHUT UP!"

Preston slapped Olivia across the face, hard. She couldn't help the small groan that escaped her lips. Elliot was yelling into the phone again, but this time his voice sounded more…pleading.

"There's much more where that came from, _Detective_," Preston sneered. "And your friend here is going to have to listen to it until one of you breaks. Now tell me…" Preston reached into his coat and drew out a knife, waving it threateningly. "Where is Krissy Douglas?"

**Sorry, that was a bit of a cliffhanger. :)**

**Please review if you can, and thanks for reading!  
><strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, everyone! I'm really sorry this is so late. Hopefully now that it's summer I'll be able to update sooner. Anyway, here's chapter four!**

Elliot finally recovered from the shock of hearing Liv's voice that had made him stop in his tracks. He sprung into action, grabbing Morales and signaling for Fin to get the Captain. They all knew from the look on Elliot's face that it had something to do with Olivia.

"Why do you need to know about Krissy Douglas?" Elliot asked, both out of curiosity and because he needed to stall if he wanted Morales to track the call.

_"Well, I already sold her to a client. They were planning on picking her up the day she ran away. And these people do not take "no" for an answer. They really had their heart set on Krissy, I guess." _

Elliot bit back his disgust of the man. He had to keep calm if he wanted to negotiate with this lowlife.

"So, I'm just supposed to hand over the girl so you can send her to an abusive home?" he asked heatedly. "And then you'll let Olivia go?"

_ "Oh, I'm glad you asked that, Detective Stabler. You see, I know that at this moment you and your cop friends are planning on giving me a false location and catching me when I show up. However, that's not part of the deal. You tell me where Krissy Douglas is, and I'll stop hurting your partner here. You bring her to me, and I'll send your partner back to you. That way there are no tricks."_

_"It's not worth it, El! He's lying- he won't let me go! Keep Krissy safe!"_

Olivia's hurried voice rang out. Immediately afterwards, there was a slapping sound and a whispered, "_Keep your mouth shut."_ Elliot felt anger rise up in him like bile, but he quelled his fury. That hadn't gotten him anywhere so far, and he didn't want to show the perp that when he hurt Olivia, he hurt Elliot, too.

"Just leave her out of this," he pleaded. "She doesn't know where Krissy is, and neither do I."

_"Oh, really?"_

Elliot put the perp on speaker so that he could still hear him, then lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Morales, did you get anything? Can you track him?"

"No, Elliot. The perp has some strange software on his phone. I can't track it while you're talking to him."

_"No, Detective Stabler, you can't track me unless one of us hangs up first. And the moment you hang up, your precious_ Olivia_ is dead."_ The man chuckled humorlessly. _"And don't think for a second that I won't kill her. Without you, there is no Krissy Douglas. And without Krissy, I have no reason to keep Detective Benson alive."_

* * *

><p>Olivia was in pain. Her ribs ached, her head throbbed to the point of dizziness, and her cheek stung dully where Preston had struck her twice now. But she would not-could not-let her pain show, or her fear for that matter. She <em>was <em>afraid; it would be foolish not to be. Preston was going to torture her in front of Elliot, and then he was probably going to kill her. But the more pain and fear Elliot thought she was in, the more likely he was to try something dangerous to help her, and she refused to put Krissy, El, Fin, Munch, or _anyone _in danger on her behalf. So she would have to suffer in silence.

"Where _is _she?" Preston asked for the fifth time.

"I don't know."

Preston lifted his foot and pressed it into her side, just as the guard had done. Olivia couldn't help the little yelp of surprise that followed the searing pain in her chest.

"Are you _sure_?"

"Do you always tie up people you don't like and hit them where they're already injured?" she asked, ignoring his question. If she couldn't tell him she was okay, she would let him know that she was still fighting back.

"It's smarter to hit your enemies where it hurts the most," Preston answered smugly.

"I'd like to hit _you _where it hurts the most_._"

Immediately after she finished her retort, Preston was hitting her again, first in the face, then in the stomach. She could hear Elliot's voice shouting on the phone again as the room spun like a Tilt-a-whirl. Olivia dazedly raised her head and looked Preston straight in the eye.

"'s that all you got?" she slurred, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ground. Her voice was strained, but the intent was clear.

"Actually, it isn't," Preston replied. He smiled malevolently and walked swiftly from the room.

"_Is he gone? Liv, talk to me!"_

"Yeah, he's gone, El. He'll be back soon, though."

"_Do you have any idea where you are?"_

"I'm sorry, Elliot. He knocked me out, and the next thing /I know, I'm at this place. I have no idea where he took me."

"_This is _not _your fault, Olivia. We are going to find you."_

There was so much determination in his voice that, for a moment, Olivia believed him.

"Listen, El, his name is Alec Preston. He's been selling these kids for years now. The youngest I've met is about four, the oldest maybe nineteen. They take these kids right off the street and torture them into compliance, then they sell them to the first rich creep they can find. It's disgusting." She paused and shuddered. "Elliot, no matter what they do to me, protect Krissy. No child should have to go through what Preston is doing to these kids."

"_It's not going to come to that! We won't let it! Olivia, I-"_

Just then, the door burst open again. Preston entered the room, closely followed by…

"Dominic," Liv whispered.

"Oh, so you _do _know each other," said Preston.

"What's your angle, Preston?" Olivia spat, but her voice had lost some of its defiance.

"I'm so glad you asked, Detective."

Preston pulled out his knife and began to edge slowly toward Dominic.

"No!" Olivia shouted, struggling against her restraints. "Please, anything but that!"

"Anything? How about telling me where Krissy Douglas is?"

"I'm not in charge of that! They never told me!" Olivia lied.

"Wrong answer."

He began to raise the blade, and time seemed to slow. Olivia realized that her legs had not been bound. She kicked wildly, and her foot knocked the knife to the floor. Now Preston was livid.

"Why, you…-"

He lashed out at Olivia in a fit of rage, lifting the knife and bringing it down furiously on her arm. This time, Liv couldn't hold back the cry of pain. She shouted in agony as the small blade tore through her sleeve and bit into her flesh. She fought frantically against the dark fog that was overtaking her senses as lightning bolts of pain jolted up and down her arm, and she heard Elliot's voice.

"_Liv? Liv, are you okay?"_ His tone was frantic.

"Yeah, El, I'm oka-_ahh!_" Her weak attempt to calm him was interrupted by a shout of pain as Preston yanked the knife out of her arm. Then he asked again about Krissy. When he received no response, he flicked his wrist and the blade slashed across her cheek.

"Actually, she's far from 'okay'," Preston said as Olivia stifled another yelp. "And knocking my weapon to the ground won't stop me from using it, Detective Benson."

This time, she knew. He was going to kill Dominic, because he needed Olivia alive. There was only one thing to do. She drew back her foot and kicked at Preston's other hand. With an echoing crash, the cell phone fell to the ground and shattered.

* * *

><p>Fin, Munch, and Cragen now surrounded Elliot's phone as well, each wearing their own expression of horror. To Fin, Liv was like a little sister. He felt the need to protect her, and was terrified that he couldn't. Cragen felt like a sort of father figure to Olivia, and he hated to know that his favorite detective, who he loved like a daughter, was in pain. Munch was someone who Olivia once called "an insane, conspiracy-theorist uncle," and he wore the title proudly. He couldn't imagine a time without Liv's laughter filling the precinct. And Elliot… Well, Elliot couldn't really sum up what Liv meant to him in a single title. Some said that the two were so close, they must've been twins, separated at birth. When they were together, it was like everyone in the world was on different radio stations, but they were tuned to the same one. They were partners- they had been for more than a decade. And they were friends as well. But for Elliot, there was something more than friendship. And being away from her was like being separated from his own soul. He remembered when he was in high school and was forced to read <em>Wuthering Heights. <em>He had hated that book, but he did remember one line that Heathcliff had said that stood out in his mind. "I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!" It was true. Olivia was his soul; he could not live without her.

Fin actually chuckled when Liv talked back to the perp. He was reassured by the fact that she had enough energy to mess with the slime ball. But his laughter quickly ended when the perp started hitting her again. Immediately, Elliot was shouting at him to leave Olivia alone. Then the scumbag seemed to leave the room.

"Liv? Is he gone? Talk to me, Liv!" Elliot said desperately. When she answered him, he visibly relaxed at the sound of her voice. She said the perp's name was Alec Preston. Morales immediately looked him up, and discovered that Preston owned three warehouses in the area. Fin, Munch, and Cragen went to search each one, while Elliot stayed on the phone, as per Preston's demands.

The sound of an opening door signaled Preston's return, and Olivia's voice seemed to lose its determination. Then, out of nowhere, she started pleading with Preston. It made Elliot worry even more; the Liv _he_ knew did _not_ plead. Then he heard a clatter, a yelled swear from Preston, and a cry of pain from Olivia that made Elliot's stomach churn.

"Liv! Liv, are you okay?"

She tried to reply, but cried out once more. Elliot heard Preston again asking about Krissy, then a hurriedly stifled whimper. He didn't know what was going on, and the suspense was killing him! Then he heard Olivia scream, "NO!", a crash, and then nothing.

He stared in shock at the phone in his hand, trying to process what happened. Preston had said that when the conversation ended, so would Olivia's life…

"Elliot! I tracked the phone!" Morales called, bringing Elliot back to reality. He got the location, a warehouse in Queens, and bolted for his car without calling Munch and Fin for backup. Time was everything. He had to get to Olivia.


	5. Chapter 5

Liv knew immediately after she did it that breaking Preston's cell was going to get her killed, but she didn't regret it. Maybe, just maybe, they would leave Dominic alone now. Dominic, the boy who she had only just met, but who she already knew she would die for. Now Elliot could track the phone, she hoped, and find all the kids being held here.

What she wasn't prepared for was just how angry Alec Preston was. For a moment, all three people in the room—Preston, Liv, and Dominic—just stared speechlessly at the broken phone. Preston finally recovered, and his face slowly turned to the color of a plum as he attempted to control his anger. Unfortunately for Olivia, he failed.

He began to scream at her, asking how she could be such an idiot, telling her that now it was time to pay. But Olivia wasn't listening. She knew what was coming, and she squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of Preston's fists. But instead, she felt his hands, shaking with anger, grab her arms and lift her, throwing her against the wall in a fit of rage. She slammed into a mirror, and she felt warm liquid running down her face and her back as her reflection shattered into a million pieces.

Shards of glass were scattered about, and they crunched under Preston's feet as he slowly approached her. She looked up at him, and her vision was foggy and blurred, but she was sure she saw him smile. He was so close, she could feel his putrid breath on her face, and he laughed.

"Unfortunately for you, _Livvie_, I believe the phone can only be tracked if your partner is the one to hang up, not if you hang up."

Olivia tried to hide her horror as she prayed, with every fiber of her being, that he was wrong.

Elliot would not save the other kids. All this would be for nothing.

"That's right, Detective Benson," Preston jeered. "Your knight in shining armor isn't coming."

Preston's mocking expression was the last thing she saw before the fog took over her senses once more, and she gave in to the darkness.

* * *

><p>Elliot was speeding, and he knew that he was speeding, but he didn't care. He tried to ease up on the gas pedal, but he was so stressed and so worried about Olivia that his foot simply refused to relax.<p>

_Olivia is in trouble. Olivia is in trouble. You have to hurry so you can save her.  
>What if...she's already dead?<em>

"No."

Elliot again refused to listen to the logical part of his brain, which told him that he was far too late to save Olivia. That Preston knew he was coming, and would have left already. He refused to listen to logic, because at the moment Elliot was hanging on to life itself by a little thread. That thread was labeled, "Hope", and if he allowed logic, his worst enemy, to cut that thread, he would soon lose his grip on himself completely.

When Elliot neared the warehouse, he turned off the sirens and the headlights. He hoped to rely on stealth for this rescue mission, since he had neither strength nor numbers in his favor. If his mind had been working properly, he would have called the Captain, Munch, and Fin, or radioed for backup, or at least told someone where he was going. But his mind was not working properly, and he did none of those things. He simply got out of his car and crept forward, slowly moving toward the abandoned building. When he was almost there, the thought he heard something and stopped in his tracks. He drew his gun and watched in horror as the door of the warehouse slowly creaked open.

* * *

><p>Olivia regained consciousness soon after she passed out, but quickly realized that it would be better to pretend to be asleep for now. She silently took in her surroundings, and she found that she was being dragged across the floor. She did her best to remain limp as her stinging injuries scraped against the concrete. Maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't kill her if they thought she was unconscious.<p>

"Hey, Boss?" asked the guard. "This broad's either asleep, unconscious, or dead. What should I do with her?"

"Just dump her in the pound or something. We won't have to change location until tomorrow anyway. Then we can kill her."

The guard shrugged and continued to drag Olivia toward the doors. Once the doors slammed shut and the guard was gone, she heard a great shuffling of feet as she was surrounded again by the young prisoners.

"Olivia!" called a familiar voice. It was Charlie. "Olivia, are you okay?"

Liv slowly raised her head to look at the children around her. They all looked on fearfully, as if

they were wondering whether she was going to die.

_Not yet._

"Charlie? How did Krissy escape?" she asked.

"Well, the guard on the other side of that door is a real idiot. If the rest of us distract him, one or two people can escape. But it doesn't always work. Krissy has been the only one to escape so far."

"We can distract them," said Sarah. "Then Olivia can leave before they kill her."

"I couldn't ask you to put your lives in danger," Olivia protested.

"You can take Dominic with you," Charlie argued. "He won't survive much longer here either."

Olivia thought about it for a moment, then agreed

"I _will_ be back for you. All of you," she said. "I promise."

She felt tear well in her eyes as she looked at all the children she would have to leave behind. Then the youngest one, Gracie, stepped forward and hugged Olivia tightly. Sarah joined in, then Anna, Cecilia, Georgiana, Julie, and finally, Charlie. Olivia's heart broke for the children who had been through enough suffering to last a lifetime. She pulled Charlie aside.

"Charlie, I need you to do whatever you can to protect them until I get back. You're their leader now."

Charlie nodded seriously, and determination sparkled in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Olivia. I'll protect them. No matter what. Just...tell Krissy I love her."

Olivia lifted Dominic off the ground and stood just behind the door, signaling to Charlie that she was ready. All at once, the children erupted in shouting. The door opened immediately, and the guard ran towards the prisoners to try to quiet them. Liv slipped through the door before it could close, and she was free.

She ran down the long, dark hallway until she came to another door. When she threw it open, she found herself outside, and staring into the eyes of...

"Elliot," she breathed.

As soon as he saw her face, Elliot lowered his gun.

_"Liv!"_

He quickly closed the distance between them, his heart nearly stopping as he saw the state she was in. Her clothes were drenched with blood, and there was a long cut on her face, as well as some bruises. She was carrying a little boy, who was covered in blood as well, but the blood seemed to belong to Liv. She was swaying on her feet, dizzy with pain and blood loss, and as soon as Elliot was close enough she placed the little boy in his arms.

"Elliot..." she murmured. "Take...Dominic...quickly..."

As soon as she was no longer carrying Dominic, her knees gave out and she fell into Elliot's arms, unable to fight the darkness that once again surrounded her.

"Liv? _Liv!_" Elliot called, but he got no response. He set Dominic down in the backseat of his car, hoisted Olivia into the front, and sped off to the hospital. While they were driving, Olivia groaned and opened her eyes.

"Elliot?" she mumbled.

"Liv, thank God you're awake again. Try to keep your eyes open, okay? It's not good to sleep with a concussion."

"Where are we going? Where's Dominic?"

"Relax, Liv, he's in the back. I'm taking you to the hospital."

"No! We need to turn around! We have to...get back to the building..."

"Olivia, you are covered in blood! I am taking you to the hospital!"

"Then give me your phone."

Elliot was confused, but he had learned not to argue with people who were dripping with blood. It tended to end badly.

Olivia took the phone and dialed Fin's number.

_"Detective Tutuola."_

"Fin?"

_"Liv? Liv, is that you? Are you okay?"_

"I'm fine. I'm with Elliot."

_"Oh, thank God! Munch! Hey, MUNCH! It's Liv! She's okay!"_

Olivia could almost hear Munch doing some sort of tap-dance when he heard the news.

_"Sorry, Liv, Munch is having a foot seizure right now."_

"Listen, Fin, this is really important. I need you to go to a warehouse in Queens. 2281 Seventh Street. There are armed men guarding the building, but there are kids inside, so proceed with caution."

_"This is where that lousy maggot kept you?"_

"Yeah, but don't kill him, Fin. I know you want to, but he could be useful in shutting this sick business down."

_"Sure thing, Liv."_

"Be careful."

_"We always are," Fin laughed._ _"Glad you're back, Liv. I don't know how much longer I could stand Stabler's temporary insanity while you were gone. He was going to drive us all crazy, if we weren't already."_

"Bye, Fin."

Elliot parked right by the hospital doors, lifted Dominic out of the backseat, and helped Liv get out of the car. She walked slowly, but she refused to allow him to carry her. As soon as they made it into the ER, Elliot flashed his badge and told the doctors to tend to Olivia immediately. Right away, she was swarmed by nurses, who hurried her onto a hospital bed and wheeled her to a room.

Elliot was forced to stay in the waiting room with Dominic, who, despite his blood-soaked clothes, was completely unharmed.

"Hi. My name's Elliot. What's your name?" he said softly to the little boy.

"Where's 'Livia?" Dominic asked, speaking for the first time all day.

"She's just getting a checkup from the doctor."

"Is she gonna be okay?"

"Of course, Buddy. She'll be fine," Elliot said, hoping he sounded more confident than he really was. Apparently he did, for as soon as Olivia's safety was confirmed, the young boy curled into Elliot's chest and fell asleep.

"Mr. Stabler?" a nurse asked.

"That's me! Is Olivia going to be okay?"

"We believe so. We are finished cataloging her injuries at this point."

Elliot gulped.

"And what did you find?"

"Ms. Benson has a large wound in her arm from being stabbed with some sort of blade. She has another cut on her cheek from the same weapon, as well as minor cuts and bruises all over her back, neck, and head. We are almost finished pulling the glass out of them—"

"—Glass? Why would there be glass in her wounds?"

"She was most likely pushed into a mirror."

"Oh..."

"She also suffered multiple blows to the head, and two of her ribs are either bruised or fractured."

"How is she? Can I see her?"

"She is probably asleep right now, Sir. You can visit her in the morning."

Elliot tried giving her his most intimidating glare, but apparently it just looked pitiful, for the nurse smiled sympathetically and told him Olivia's room number.

When he entered Liv's room, his first reaction was that he had never seen her looking so vulnerable. She was covered in bandages and hooked up to an IV. The second thing he noticed was that she was still awake.

"Liv. You should be sleeping," he said. "You need your rest after that whole ordeal."

"I'm not sleeping until I hear from Fin. I...I need to know that they're okay."

"They? Who are "they," Liv?"

"The others. Just like Krissy said. I promised them...that I would come back for them."

"Okay, I'll try to get Fin and Munch over here as soon as they're done. In the meantime, you should rest."

"I'm fine, El. Really. It's not like he shot me or anything."

"No, he just stabbed you, cut you, hit you, kicked you, and pushed you into a mirror," Elliot replied, rolling his eyes.

"Where's Dominic?" she asked, ignoring his sarcasm. Elliot lifted the boy onto Olivia's hospital bed, where he crawled closer and snuggled into her good arm.

"Who is he, Liv?"

"They were going to sell him like they sold the others. But when they were going to punish him, I couldn't just let him get hurt. I _couldn't_. So I said I would take his place. That's why he started..._questioning_ me so quickly. But then they brought Dominic in the room with me, and I swear he would have killed him, so..."

"So you broke his phone," Elliot finished, understanding. "I...I thought you were dead…when the call ended. Why didn't they kill you?"

"Preston thought that you could only track the call if _you _were the one to hang up."

"Oh, so that's why they didn't try to run. But how did you escape?"

"The kids...they helped me."

She felt another pang of guilt for leaving them behind.

"Olivia, stop worrying," Elliot insisted, taking her hand in his. "We'll get the kids, arrest Preston, and hopefully he'll spill the beans about the other victims. This will all be over before you know it."

"Thanks, El."

She smiled and squeezed his hand. Then the door opened, and Elliot quickly released her hand, both of them blushing slightly as Fin, Munch, and Cragen walked in.

"Liv!"

"Hey, baby girl!"

"Olivia, so glad you're back!"

"Wow, you guys sure got here fast. Did you get Preston?"

All three men were uncomfortably silent as they studied their feet rather than look Liv in the eye. Olivia's heart sunk.

"Guys?" she asked uncertainly.

"He was gone," Cragen said quietly.

"Hightailed it outta there as soon as they noticed you escaped," Fin added.

"What?" Olivia was in shock. "B-but the kids...were they...?"

"He, um...took the kids with him," Munch answered, for once unable to think of a witty remark.

"No..."  
>"Liv, it's okay. It's not your fault."<p>

"I should have stayed! I should have made you turn around instead of taking me to the hospital..."

"It's just as much my fault as yours," Elliot retorted. "Beating yourself up about it isn't going to find those kids."

"I...I promised...I would protect them..." Her voice was no more than a whisper as the pain killers began to kick in and weariness overwhelmed her.

"Olivia, I can help you. I swear to you, we will find those kids. Together."


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry it took me so long to update. Chapter seven should be up very soon, if it's any consolation. Oh, and thank you to everyone who reviewed! You've been very nice, and the reviews encourage me to write more. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. Except for Dominic, Charlie, Krissy, Preston, Julie, Gracie, Sarah, Georgiana, Cecilia, Anna, Mike…Hey, I own a lot of people! **

Olivia Benson was beautiful.

Of course, Elliot already knew that. He had known it for a long time–years in fact. But as he watched her sleeping in her hospital bed, even though her brow was wrinkled in despair and her face was bruised and bloody, even though she hadn't bathed in days and there were tubes sticking out of her arm, there was no doubt in his mind that Olivia was beautiful.

"Charlie...Sarah..." Olivia moaned. "Julie...Gracie..."

She had been mumbling the same seven names ever since she had succumbed to the drug-induced sleep a few hours ago. He hated seeing her like this. She had assured him that she was fine, but she couldn't hide the pain in her face.

"_Charlie_!"

Olivia shot up in her bed, and Elliot was immediately at her side, calming her down as she gasped for air.

"Shh. It's okay, Liv. It was only a dream."

"I'm fine," she gasped. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize," he commanded. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just a bad dream, like you said."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He was cheating. He was giving her the Stabler signature puppy dog face, his big blue eyes staring imploringly into her brown ones. And, sadly, it was working. She couldn't refuse.

"Well...it's about those kids," she said slowly. "I can't get them out of my head. I keep seeing their innocent faces, looking up at me…like I'm their hero, like I'm going to save them from the bad guys. But I failed them."

"No, you didn't. We're going to find them, don't worry."

"El, I need a favor."

"Anything."

"Get the nurse to bring my release forms so I can go back to the station."

"What? No way."

"Come on, please? I have no life-threatening injuries! And I need to work, or else I'm going to lose it. Surely you, of all people, would understand that."

Elliot thought for a moment, and realized that, were he in this situation, he would be asking the same thing.

"Fine. But I'm staying with you until this whole thing blows over, okay?"

He called the nurse, who reluctantly brought the release forms for her to sign, and then helped Liv out of her bed, despite her protests and multiple threats on his life if he didn't allow her to get up on her own.

"I'll drive you home," Elliot said, finally backing off.

"No. Take me to the station."

He heard the determination in her voice, and he knew she wasn't going to rest until they found those kids, regardless of where he drove her, so he did as she asked.

"Okay, Olivia, I promise I won't change my mind about taking you to the station, but tell me the truth. How do you feel?"

"Like I was kidnapped and tortured," she replied, voice laced with sarcasm. He gave her a serious look and she relented. "My arm hurts, I guess. And I have a headache."

"How do you feel, emotionally?"

"Emotionally? I'm ready to take Preston down."

They arrived at the Precinct, and Olivia walked in on her own, mostly because if Elliot tried to help her, he would have reason to fear for his life.

"Liv! What are you doing here?" Fin asked, giving her a one-armed hug.

"Yeah, I thought we were finally rid of you!" Munch joked. "First you escape from your kidnappers, then you come back early from the hospital! We just can't catch a break!"

"Benson!" Cragen called, interrupting the somewhat unconventional reunion. "My office. Now."

"Wow. Already? That's gotta be a record!" Munch exclaimed.

Olivia entered the Captain's office, praying he wasn't about to make her go home.

"Liv, what are you doing back here already?"

"Captain, I _need_ to work. I can't do anything until I find those kids."

Cragen glanced at his favorite detective, and he must have seen the same determination in her eyes that Elliot had seen, for he made his decision.

"I'll allow you to return to work early. But if you start feeling any worse, you need to go home, got it?"

"Thanks, Captain."

Olivia started to leave the office, but Cragen called her name again.

"Yes, Captain?"

"I'm really glad you're back," he said.

"Glad to be back."

She walked purposefully to her desk and began to sort through the files there. Her heart sank when she saw how thin they were. She opened the file on Preston and found hardly anything. He was accused of beating his girlfriend in 2007, but she had dropped the charges.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" said Elliot, who was reading over her shoulder.

"Only if you're thinking that this file is a little _too_ clean," she replied.

"In fact, there is absolutely nothing before that abuse accusation in 2007. No parking tickets, nothing."

He spoke to Morales for a moment, who typed frantically on his laptop and printed the results.

"Ha! Just as I thought!" Elliot exclaimed. "Alec Preston didn't exist until 2006."

"It's an alias?" asked Munch, who had been eavesdropping.

"Seems that way."

"This is good," said Olivia, a bit of excitement in her voice. "Aliases mean he's got something to hide! If we can find out who he really is..."

"Then maybe it'll lead us to the kids," Elliot finished. "We've got a couple officers watching the warehouses purchased in Preston's name, but he's probably smart enough to stay away from them."

"We need to find out his real name," Munch concluded.

"In the meantime, Liv, I need to get your statement," Fin told Olivia.

She sighed and began to follow Fin to an interrogation room, when the sounds of crying made her stop and turn around. Dominic, who had been sitting quietly at her desk, was reaching sadly for Olivia as tears flowed down his face. Olivia quickly picked him up and Dominic's tears were stemmed. Her coworkers watched the scene before them in confusion.

"Uh, Liv? Who's that?" asked Munch.

"Oh, this is Dominic. He was one of the kids Preston was trying to sell."

She seemed torn between giving him her statement and staying with the boy, so Fin made a compromise.

"Well, we're gonna have to try to get Little Dom here to talk soon anyway, so why don't we just get your statements at the same time?"

Olivia agreed and carried the weary child into one of the interrogation rooms. She sat in the cold, hard chair that the perps usually sat in and sighed, knowing that she would have to start talking about what happened to her, though all she wanted to do was put it behind her.

"Why don't you just tell me what happened. Start from the beginning," Fin said, understanding her need to leave the cramped room and hunt down the scum who had kidnapped her.

"Okay. Well, it all started when Krissy Douglas showed up at the precinct a few days ago. She had been kidnapped and tortured, but gave us very little information about it. When we asked how she had escaped, she let slip that there were others being held there. Then she clammed up and wouldn't tell us anything else. We _did_ get her to tell us where she had escaped from, though, so Elliot and I drove to the warehouse just in case they were still there. We were going to wait for backup, but I heard a scream inside. I ran into the building while Elliot kept watch in case the perp snuck out the back door. When I got there, there was a girl tied up in a chair. She said that someone had forced her to scream. Then a man put a gun to my head and told me to radio Elliot and tell him everything was okay. After I did that, he knocked me out and dragged me to his car. When I woke up, I was in another warehouse with a group of children. Dominic was there as well. At some point, a man came in to take Dominic away so that they could punish him, and I said that he could take me instead. The man inside told me his name was Alec Preston, and he wanted to know where we had taken Krissy Douglas. He...hurt me when I didn't answer."

"And that's how you got all the bruises?" asked Fin, clenching his fists in anger at Preston.

"Yes. Then he brought Dominic into the room, and...he took out a knife and threatened to hurt him. So I kicked the knife out of his hand. He was angry. He picked the knife up and..." She subconsciously rubbed her arm, which was now in a sling. "He stabbed me with it and went for Dominic again. So I kicked the phone out of his hand and broke it. I wanted Elliot to trace the call so he could save the other kids. I thought Preston was going to kill me...but he didn't. He pushed me into a mirror and one of the guards dragged me back to the first room. The kids made a distraction and I escaped with Dominic. As soon as I made it out the door, Elliot found me. And...I guess that's it."

Fin raised his eyebrows at her calm conclusion and she shrugged.

"Okay, now I need to try to talk to Dominic, too," Fin said, turning to Dominic, who had been sitting in Olivia's lap. "Hey, Buddy. Can you tell me about what happened to you?"

Dominic buried his head in Olivia's shirt.

"Dominic," Olivia spoke softly. "Why don't you tell me about your parents, okay?"

"No. They're mean," he said with a muffled voice. "They gave me to the bad man."

Fin and Liv exchanged glances.

"What do you mean, Sweetie?"

"They 'dopted me, then the man gave Daddy money and took me 'way."

"You were adopted?" Olivia asked. She felt a burning rage for whoever had the heart to sell such a sweet little boy. "What was your father's name, Dominic?"

"He said call him Mr. Quinby, but Mommy called him Mike."

"Okay, Buddy, thank you. You've been a big help," said Fin, jotting down the name.

Olivia stood and Dominic clung to her hand as if his life depended on it. He stared up at her with those big, blue eyes that melted her heart. They exited the interrogation room hand-in-hand. Elliot looked up at his partner and smiled. There was something about seeing her and Dominic that just seemed _right_.

"We have a new lead," Olivia announced. "Dominic's father, Mike Quinby. He sold him to Preston. Maybe he can tell us more about him. And if not, we can still arrest the lowlife."

"Amen to that," Elliot replied, feeling a familiar anger for the perp coursing through his veins.

"I just looked him up," called Fin from across the room. "He lives in Albany now. Munch and I can go pick him up."

Fin and Munch left for Quinby's house, and Olivia was again left with a feeling of futility. All she wanted to do was find those kids.

"Liv," Called Cragen, stepping out of his office. "It's four AM. It will take them at least four hours to get to Albany and back. Go home. Try to get a couple hours of sleep. Elliot, go with her."

"But, Captain—"

"There's nothing for you to do here. We'll call you when Quinby arrives, don't worry."

"What about Dominic?" asked Elliot.

"I'll call child services. They can take him until Foster Care can place him in a home."

Olivia seemed to be deep in thought. She bit her lip and looked from Dominic to Elliot to Cragen, as if she were trying to decide something. Finally, she made her decision.

"Captain, wait. I'll take him."


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's chapter seven, right away, as promised. I'll try to get chapter eight done as soon as possible, but I'm a very slow writer, so I'm not making any promises.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Elliot and Olivia, they would never leave the show, Elliot would have gotten divorced, and the two of them would have three kids by now!**

Olivia didn't know where it was coming from, but from the moment she saw Dominic, she had felt an overwhelming desire to protect and care for him. She didn't know how long she would have to take care of Dominic, or how she would do it, but she _would_ take care of him, for as long as it took.

"Olivia, are you sure?" Cragen asked.

"Well, I registered as a foster parent just in case Calvin came back, so I'm the only one here who can legally watch him," she answered. She didn't add the real reason she was taking him in.

"And I'll be with her, so I'll make sure they don't burn the house down or something," laughed Elliot.

"That makes me even more worried," the Captain said, rolling his eyes. "Okay, the three of you can go home. But for Heaven's sake, get some sleep!"

"Yes, Captain," they chorused.

Cragen rolled his eyes again and retired to his office, determined to get a few hours of sleep himself.

"You know it's funny...I don't recall inviting you to stay at my place," Olivia said after Cragen left.

"We're not going to your place. We're going to mine," Elliot replied. "There's no way I'm letting the two of you stay alone at _your_ apartment while Preston is out to get you."

Olivia sighed, but knew that, when Elliot wanted to be protective, there was no stopping him.

"Come on, Liv. Dominic can sleep in Eli's room."

"Fine. But I'm taking the couch. I'm not putting you out of your bed just because you feel the need to be overprotective."

"I'm not being overprotective! If anything, I'm being _under_ protective!"

They bickered lightheartedly back and forth all the way to Elliot's apartment.

"You know, usually people argue over who _doesn't_ have to sleep on the couch, not who _does_."

"We're not arguing, because the issue isn't up for discussion," Olivia said simply. She sat down on the couch while Elliot went into the kitchen.

"Hey, Liv, do you want something to eat, or—"

He stopped when he saw that she was already asleep, with Dominic curled up next to her. He smiled, lifted the sleeping boy, and brought him to Eli's vacant bed. Then he went to his own room and fell asleep for the first time since before Olivia had been kidnapped, finally at peace.

_She is running._

_From whom she does not know. All she knows is she is running from him, and she can feel his warm breath on her neck._

_Her desperate gasps of air are jagged, as are her pursuer's, and she has to tell herself to keep going. Don't stop. Whatever you do, don't let him catch you._

_"Olivia!" A familiar voice calls. She spins around and Charlie is there, a look of pain on his face._

_"Olivia, why did you leave us?"_

_She stops running, the shock of seeing him rooting her to the spot._

_"Why, Olivia?" another voice calls. She turns to see Sarah staring back at her._

_"You made a promise," calls another voice. Suddenly, she is surrounded by children._

_"You promised you would come back for us," said Gracie._

_"Why didn't you save us?" asked Julie sadly._

_"No...no..."_

_Preston appears in front of her, having finally caught up, and raises his gun._

_"Goodnight, Olivia," he growled._

_An earth-shattering bang fills the air as Olivia's scream pierces the endless darkness._

Olivia's eyes snapped open and she shot up from her sleeping position on the couch in a cold sweat. She gasped for air as she took in her surroundings. Loud footsteps reached her ears, and in seconds Elliot appeared in the doorway.

"Liv, are you okay?" he asked frantically.

"Yeah...I'm...fine," she said in between gasps. "Sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault," he said, sitting down next to her. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing."

He put his arm comfortingly around her.

"No, it's not nothing. I _know_ you, Liv."

Olivia buried her face in Elliot's shirt, sobbing quietly. She was nearly hysterical, probably due to the shock of her nightmare combined with the painkillers she was taking and the lack of a good night's sleep.

"Shh. It's okay. It was only a dream, Liv," Elliot said quietly, rubbing her shoulder in an effort to console his partner.

"P-Preston. He was chasing me. A-and the kids were there, too. And he had a gun, and, and..."

She was trying to keep the tears at bay, but she simply couldn't stop them. "I promised them, El. I _promised_ them. And now they're stuck with Preston while I'm free. And it isn't fair. I-I need to find them.

"I know, Liv. I know," he said. "And we will. I promised you we would find them, together. Remember?"

Olivia nodded against his shirt.

"I know. I-I'm sorry."

"Please, don't be sorry. Everybody has to let it out sometime, Liv. And it's never easier when you're alone."

"Thank you," she whispered, "for being there for me."

"Anytime, Olivia. Anytime."

Neither of them would be getting back to sleep that night if they were alone. Elliot would worry about Olivia, and Olivia would have more nightmares. So they made a silent agreement. Elliot kept his arm around his partner's shoulders, and they sat there in companionable silence until they both drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>They awoke to Elliot's phone ringing. He awkwardly removed his arm from around Olivia and answered it.<p>

"Stabler...Oh, good...Okay, we'll be there...Thanks, Captain." He snapped the phone shut. "Fin and Munch are almost to the precinct. If we leave now, we can make it in time to see the Scumbag Delivery Service arrive."

"Oh, goody," Olivia mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What am I going to do about Dominic?"

"I suppose we'll take him with us," Elliot answered. "We need him to ID his dad anyway."  
>Olivia stood groggily and went into Eli's room, where Dominic was sleeping peacefully. She lifted him from his bed and he wrapped his little arms around her neck and went back to sleep. A small smile appeared on her face as she thought about what it would be like to have a son of her own, but she quickly dismissed the thought. She needed to accept the fact that she would never have a family, and fantasizing about it wasn't going to help.<p>

"Ready, Liv?" Elliot called.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

They hopped into Elliot's car and drove to the precinct. When they arrived, Fin and Munch were just leaving to get some sleep.

"Hey, guys," Fin said. "Man, Liv, you look terrible."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Olivia grumbled. "And anyway, I'm starting to think that three hours of sleep is worse than no sleep at all. It's like you're dying of hunger and being able to smell the food, but not eat it."

"You're not making any sense," said Munch. "Maybe you're delirious."

"Shut up, John," she laughed.

Fin and Munch went home, and Liv and Elliot prepared to interrogate Mike Quinby. They decided that, since both of them were extremely angry with Quinby, it would be best if neither of them were left alone with him. So they entered the interrogation room together, with a slightly altered version of "good cop/bad cop" planned out.

"Hey, Mikey," said Elliot, sitting down next to Quinby.

"It's Michael."

"Okay, Mikey," said Olivia. "So, let me ask you a question." She leaned in so close, she could smell his putrid breath. "Why did you sell your son?"

"I didn't."

"Of course you did. Jimmy told us everything."

"See, you're wrong. 'Cause I don't have a son named Jimmy; I have a son named Dominic! Ha!"

"Oh, so Dominic _is_ your son?"

Mike swore to himself.

"Hey, you tricked me! You can't do that!"

"Oh, we can and we _will_," Olivia shot back, smiling slyly.

"What's the matter with you, Lady? Your boyfriend dump you or somethin'?"

Olivia pretended to be outraged at the insult and stormed out of the room. Then she stood behind the mirror, smiling as her partner worked his magic.

"Hey, don't let that woman get to ya," Elliot laughed. "She doesn't have kids. She doesn't know what it's like."

"You got kids?"

"I used to. Until I dumped 'em on my girlfriend."

"I hear that."

"I mean, I didn't choose to have the brats, right? Why do I gotta take care of 'em?" Elliot said, feigning annoyance.

"Exactly. I mean, I send for a kid, 'cause my old lady wanted one, and they send me this _little _guy, with all these _issues_. Kid can't even do his chores! So I said to Sheryl, "We can make some quick cash off this brat, say he ran away, and get another one from the foster system. No one would even know the difference!" I mean, it's not like anybody _cares_ about the kid, right? No one would miss him."

"You can do that?" Elliot said, then looked around and dropped his voice to a whisper. "I mean, there are people who will just_ buy_ your kids?"

"Sure. Guy by the name of Frederick Gallagher, he'll buy a kid off you, no questions asked."

Olivia burst into the room just as Elliot grabbed Mike Quinby by the collar, all of his fury, bursting out at once.

"Well, I think we've got everything we need to know to arrest him, don't you, El?"

"Assuming I don't kill him first."

"My sentiments exactly. Although, there will be consequences if you kill him, and after we send him to Rikers he'll probably be dead within the week. You see, Mikey, people who are already in jail for life don't really think twice about killing people like you."

"Yep, you're pretty much doomed," Elliot added, releasing his collar and letting him fall back into the hard metal chair. "Unless you can help us out."

"Hey, you can't listen in on my conversations! It says so in the Declaration of Independence!"

"I believe the document you're thinking of is the Constitution," said a new voice. "And yes, actually, they can."

"Casey, so glad you could make it!"

"Who's the chick?" Mike questioned.

"Someone you should probably show more respect toward."

"ADA Casey Novak. I'll be working to prosecute you. And with the confession I just heard, I'll be winning. But I _can_ make you a deal."

"We want everything you know about the man you sold your son to. And where you met him."

"What's in it for me?"

"That depends on what you give us."

Mike sighed, knowing that he was in a bad situation, and decided to give it up.

"I met him at a bar. I think it was called "Mason's" or something."

"That's not enough."

"Okay, I still have the check he gave me. Could that help?"

"We'll see," said Olivia, taking the check carefully from his hand. "I'm going to send this to the lab."

"And I'll look up this 'Frederick Gallagher' fellow," Elliot added.

"And then I think you should stop for a drink," said Casey. "Specifically, at Mason's. Ask around about Preston, or Gallagher, or whatever his name is."

They agreed and left Mike in the interrogation room while they did a bit of digging on Frederick Gallagher.

"Oh, great," Elliot mumbled to himself as he typed away on his computer.

"What's up, El?"

"Frederick Gallagher died in 1968."

"Another alias?" Olivia sighed.

"Another alias, another dead end."

"Great. Well, while we're waiting for Forensics to run the fingerprints on the check, we might as well check out that bar, Mason's. We can show Preston's picture to the bartender or something. At least that'll give us something to do."

"Agreed."

At that moment, Fin and Munch walked into the Precinct, looking like they hadn't slept in days.

"Hey, Liv? I think I'm starting to understand what you meant earlier when you said no sleep is better than some sleep," Munch said groggily.

"Well, I feel refreshed!" said Elliot.

"Yep. Getting a scumbag to confess, plus getting a new lead, can be very cathartic," Olivia agreed. "Man, was that Mike Quinby an idiot! He basically confessed all on his own."

"Well, congratulations. Where are you going now?"

"To a bar," Elliot said, grinning. "Don't worry, it's for the case."

"Well, call if you need anything," Fin said, walking slowly toward the cribs.

"But please, don't need anything," Munch added, following his partner.

Liv and Elliot laughed and headed for the car, happy to finally have a lead on Preston.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry this is late (again) but I was unable to use a computer for over a week. **

**Before you read this, you should know that I'm not a doctor; I'm a fourteen-year-old. So any medical information in this story may be inaccurate. Also, thanks SO much to everyone who reviewed. **

It was a long drive to Mason's Pub, so Liv and Elliot spent most of the ride making pleasant conversation and trying not to think about Preston and all the kids he had already sold.

"What about Dominic, Liv?" Elliot asked, unable to contain the question any longer.

"What about him?"

"Well, I mean, how long are you going to take care of him?"

"For as long as he needs me."

A slightly uncomfortable silence fell over the partners as Elliot drove on. Finally, Olivia broke the quiet ambiance.

"El, can I tell you something?" she asked.

"Sure, Liv. You can always talk to me."

"I'm considering...adopting Dominic." When Elliot was silent, she hurriedly continued. "I mean, he doesn't have anyone, and he needs someone to take care of him, and he seems to trust me-"

"Liv?"

"-and I know that I'm not exactly a perfect candidate for a guardian, but-"

"Liv?"

"-but I loved taking care of Calvin, and I just-"

"Olivia!" He interrupted for the third time and she finally stopped rambling.

"What?"

"I think it's a great idea."

"Really?" she asked incredulously. A smile broke over Elliot's face.

"Yeah, I think you'd make a great mom."

Olivia smiled back at him. She had been worrying about this decision all day, but it seemed that, with Elliot's reassurance, there was nothing to be afraid of.

"Thanks, El. That means a lot."

"And if you ever need any help," he added seriously, "I'm there for you. I've helped raise five kids of my own, and I'd be honored if you'd let me help you raise Dominic."

Olivia was speechless. She didn't know how to respond to Elliot's offer. Luckily, she didn't have to, for they pulled into the parking lot just as he said it, and they couldn't be Liv and El anymore. They were Benson and Stabler, and they were going to bring Alec Preston to justice.

They entered the bar, and both detectives tried to act natural as they searched for Preston in the crowd. Suddenly, Olivia ducked behind the nearest table, as if she were hiding from someone.

"Liv, what's up?" Elliot whispered ducking down with her. "Do you see Preston?"

She shook her head, then ran into the hallway where the bathrooms were located so that no one could see them.

"One of the guards," she breathed, jerking her head in the direction of a large, muscular man. "He's the one who kidnapped me in the first place."

Elliot's expression became angry as he thought of the man who had knocked Olivia out and bruised her ribs.

"Why, I ought to-"

"-El, just calm down. We need to find out as much as we can about Preston. THEN we can arrest his goon."

"Fine. But you're staying here. If he recognizes you, there's no telling what he'll do."

"Okay. Text me when you're done."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Elliot walked up to the bar and sat down. He looked at the guy sitting next to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, do you know where a guy can find Frederick Gallagher?" The man looked at him like he was crazy. "Never heard of him? Well, have you ever seen this guy?" He showed the man a picture of

Preston.

"Of course! That's Mr. Mason. I think his first name's Andrew. He owns the bar. He doesn't come 'round too often, though."

Elliot thanked the man, then found Liv and decided they had enough information. It was time to arrest Preston's goon. Olivia took her arm out of the sling in an effort to not show weakness, and they crept out of the hallway. Olivia sneaked up behind the man while Elliot went around.

"Remember me?" she asked.

"Hey, I know that voice..."

He spun around and made a grab for her, but Olivia ducked just in time.

"Don't you touch her!" Elliot growled. Olivia pushed the man against the wall.

"What's your name?" she demanded.

"Victor Mason," he said, furious that a woman had gotten the better of him.

"Victor Mason, you're under arrest for kidnapping a police officer," Elliot said.

"You'll pay for this," Victor spat as Olivia grabbed his arm to cuff him.

"Who's powerless now?" she whispered.

Victor turned and grabbed her arm, squeezing it right where he knew the knife wound was. Olivia let out a strangled gasp of pain and surprise, and Victor pushed her out of the way and began to run. Elliot chased after him as he ran out of the bar. Olivia quickly got to her feet and ran out the back door to try to block any means of escape. In seconds, Victor was running around the corner.

Elliot tried to tackle him, but miscalculated the distance between them and missed, grabbing Victor's leg on the way down. Mason kicked Elliot in the face and kept running. Olivia ran at him and tackled him, finally bringing the criminal down, and Elliot slapped the handcuffs on his wrists.

"Victor Mason, you have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you..."

They threw him roughly into the car and slammed the door shut. Finally they were alone.

"You okay, Liv?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are _you_ okay?"

"Well, my nose hurts a bit, but it's mostly my pride that's wounded."

"Think we're getting too old for this?" Olivia grinned.

"Nah. The perps are just getting faster."

They laughed and got into the car, hoping for a peaceful ride back to the precinct. Unfortunately, they had to endure thirty minutes of Victor Mason's whining and complaining. When they finally arrived, they were extremely annoyed.

"What happened to you guys?" Munch asked, taking in their disheveled appearances and Elliot's bloody nose.

"Don't ask," Elliot muttered,

"Liv, your arm is bleeding!" Fin exclaimed.

Olivia looked down at her sleeve, which was now stained with blood.

"Aw, shoot."

"Liv, you said you were fine!" Elliot said angrily.

"I _was_ fine. It's just a little blood, Elliot. I didn't notice until now. Calm down."

"I'm taking you to the hospital."

"El-"

"You tore your stitches! You have to go back to the ER. I'll bring you back here as soon as they're done, okay?"

"Fine," she sighed.

"We can take Victor from here," Fin assured her.

Elliot told the Captain where they were going, then practically dragged Olivia out of the precinct. He sped to the hospital, despite Olivia's assurances that she was fine and he could drive at normal speed. They arrived at the hospital, and El used his badge to skip the waiting room and get a doctor to see them right away.

"Torn stitches, Ms. Benson? Didn't the doctors tell you not to aggravate the injury?" the nurse asked disapprovingly.

"Well it wasn't by choice. Mason kind of aggravated it for me," Olivia said, sounding slightly defensive. The doctor walked in, and quickly rolled up Olivia's sleeve. Elliot grimaced when he saw the large wound on her arm, and he found himself thinking of what he'd do to Victor Mason when he got to him. Or, better yet, what he'd do to _Andrew _Mason, or Gallagher, or Preston, or whatever the heck his name was.

"Would you like some sort of painkiller before we begin, Ms. Benson?" the doctor asked, walking in with her chart.

"No. Let's just get it over with," she replied.

"You sure, Liv? I mean, doesn't your arm hurt?"

"I'm fine. And I'm already on painkillers, remember?"

The doctor began to take out his equipment, and Elliot immediately reached out his hand, which Olivia took gratefully. As the doctor cleaned out the wound, she squeezed her partner's hand tightly enough that it hurt him a little. Soon enough, her arm was all stitched up and she was released with a warning not to tear them again, and to keep it in a sling until it healed.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she does," Elliot chuckled. Olivia fake-glared at him for a moment, then smiled.

"Thanks for, uh, holding my hand and stuff," she said awkwardly.

"No problem, Liv. You're my partner, and my best friend."

He couldn't help but silently add, _and the love of my life._

* * *

><p>They got back to the precinct just in time to help Munch and Fin with their interrogation of Victor<p>

Mason.

"So, how are you related to Andrew Mason?" asked Elliot. "Or is that a fake name, too?"

"I don't know any Andrew Mason."

"Of course you do! He owns the bar we arrested you at."

"Oh, _that _Andrew Mason," he said, pretending he was even denser than he actually was. "We're, uh, brothers." A knock on the door called the detectives into the hallway.

"We just checked," said Fin. "Andrew Mason is another alias. But _Victor_ here is the real deal."

"Thanks, Fin," they said, then walked back into the room.

"You're lying to us, Victor. Andrew Mason doesn't exist. Now what is Alec Preston's real name?"

"You can't make me tell you."

"Oh, you'd better believe we can," said Elliot, grabbing him roughly by the collar. "Come on, Vicky. I know you're just dying to tell us. Where's Preston?

"Nothing you can do to me compares to what Preston could do to me."

"Well, if you tell us, maybe we can cut you a deal. Kidnapping a police officer is a pretty bad crime,

you know," Olivia said.

"He'll find me in prison, too. I'm keeping my mouth shut."

"We can make sure that doesn't happen. We can protect you."

Mason looked like he was contemplating taking the deal, when there was a knock on the door.

"What is it? We almost had him!" Elliot exclaimed, slamming the door shut behind him.

"I'm sorry," said Casey, "but you have to let him go. His lawyer's here, and he's pulling all kinds of

tricks. You can't keep him here because you have nothing on him."

"Olivia recognized him as her kidnapper! I fail to see how that is 'nothing'!"

"She didn't identify him in a lineup; any decent lawyer will throw that out. You have no probable cause." Casey sighed. "If I could prosecute him, believe me, I would. But my hands are tied."

"Hey, at least we can follow him when we release him. He seems like he isn't too bright, so I'll bet he leads us right to Preston."

They reluctantly released Mason, then Liv, El, Munch, and Fin got into Elliot's car and followed him to his house. Munch and Fin stayed in the car, while Liv and Elliot went around to the back of the house, in case Mason went out the back door on foot. They crouched behind a nearby dumpster and prepared themselves for a night of waiting.

As it turned out, they didn't have to wait long. Soon enough, they saw Victor Mason sneaking out his back door and walking down the street.

"Mason's on the move," Elliot said into his radio. They didn't wait for Fin's scratchy reply, and they started following Mason from just far enough away that he wouldn't see them. The street was deserted, and Mason was talking into his cellphone. Suddenly, Victor began running as he turned the corner. Liv and Elliot began to run as well, so fast that they didn't see the car speeding around the corner until it was right in front of them.

Elliot grabbed his partner's hand and pulled her out of the way just in time. The car was inches away from crushing them both as it sped by.

"Elliot? El, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Thanks to you, I am."

"Benson? Stabler? Stabler, do you copy?"

"We're here, Fin. Benson and I are both fine, but..." He paused and looked at Olivia. "I think someone just tried to kill us."

**Hope that wasn't too much of a cliffhanger. Reviews are really appreciated. They really do encourage me to write faster, and I'd like to know if you guys like it so far. Thanks! **


	9. Chapter 9

**I feel like a broken record saying this, but sorry it's so late! **

**This is a chapter of nervous confessions and near misses. Enjoy!**

Elliot stood up and helped Olivia shakily to her feet just as Fin and Munch pulled up next to them.

"Hey, you guys okay?" Fin asked, jumping out of the car.

"We're fine. What about Mason?"

"We lost him. I think he got into a cab or something as soon as that car tried to run you down. That was probably the plan all along."

"We're making him nervous," Olivia said. "That means we're getting closer."

"Leave it to Liv to find the bright side of somebody trying to kill you," Munch joked. "Come on, we'll drive you to the precinct."

When they arrived at the station, Cragen immediately approached Olivia.

"Liv, you're here just in time. Dominic has been crying for the past ten minutes, and we can't calm him down. I tried giving him some licorice from my secret stash, but it didn't help..."

The young boy saw Olivia come in and ran to her, throwing his little arms around her as he collided with her legs. She lifted Dominic into her arms and he stopped crying right away, sniffling slightly as Olivia assured him everything was okay.

"I told you," Elliot whispered so only Liv could hear him.

"You told me what?"

"That you would make a great mom."

Olivia smiled, truly comforted by his words.

"What happened to you guys? And where's Mason?" the Captain asked.

"We were chasing him on foot...until somebody tried to run us over," Elliot stated.

"What? Somebody tried to kill you? And you didn't think it was necessary to mention this before?"

"Well, we were going to. We just got here. And, obviously, they weren't _successful_ in killing us."

"Yes, I can see that. Did you get his license plate number?"

"Nope. I was kind of focused on making sure my partner and I didn't become roadkill. But I'm sure the car was stolen anyway."

"Okay, okay, so you didn't get the plates. No need for sarcasm. When was the last time any of you ate?" Cragen asked. None of them could remember, so he told them to take a break. Then he told Elliot and Olivia that he didn't want to see them back at work until morning. Olivia had expected him to take them off the case completely, so for once she didn't argue.

"Hey, why don't we take Dominic and go out to eat before we go home?" Elliot suggested. "I'm sure he's hungry."

Olivia agreed, and soon the three of them were at a nearby restaurant. Elliot sat on one side, while Olivia sat with Dominic on the other, and as they chatted and discussed the events of the day, she couldn't help but think, _This is how it's meant to be._ To the rest of the world, they looked just like a family. If only she knew that Elliot was thinking the exact same thing.

"This is nice," Elliot said, unable to contain his feelings.

"What's nice?"

"Being here, the three of us," he said, and he didn't need to explain. She knew exactly what he meant.

"Liv, I know it's none of my business, but can I give you my opinion?"

"Knock yourself out."

"I think you should adopt him. I mean, he already trusts you. And like I said before, you'd make an amazing mother. The victims always love you right away, especially the kids. And my offer still stands; I'll always be there for you and Dominic. I could..." Elliot cleared his throat nervously. "Uhh, what I mean to say is...I could be..." He was struggling with the words. "I could be a...a sort of father figure for him. If you wanted me to."

For a moment, Olivia stared at him, mouth slightly agape, as she tried to process what he had just said. Then a huge smile split across her face.

"Elliot, you have no idea how happy that would make me. I...I don't know what to say."

Upon seeing her joy, Elliot couldn't help grinning himself.

"I have a confession to make," he said, wringing his hands anxiously. "For years now, I've imagined what it would be like...to have a family with you."

Olivia blushed slightly, and had to keep telling herself, _That's not what he means. He doesn't love you like you love him. He's your partner. He's just being a good friend._

"Elliot...I have a confession as well," she said, now just as anxious as her partner. "I've imagined that same thing. Elliot, I-"

She was interrupted by Elliot's cell phone ringing loudly.

"Stabler...Oh, hey, Fin...Really?...We'll be right down."

He hung up, then smiled at his partner. With her short, brown hair, her perfect face, and the big, brown eyes that he seemed to lose himself in every few seconds, he was too busy staring at her to think coherently. Those eyes...

"Elliot. Earth to Elliot. Do you read me?" Olivia said, Snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Uh, sorry, what?"

"Quit spacing out," she said, playfully poking his arm. "I asked you what Fin had to say. Is there a break in the case?"

"Oh, right. John and Fin found Mason in one of the warehouses listed in Alec Preston's name."

"Seriously? Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go interrogate him again!"

"Um, there's a problem with that, Liv..."

"Why?" she said exasperatedly, itching to have another go at Mason.

"He's dead."

Realization spread across her face, followed by a look of sadness as she realized that their only witness had died, and with him the hope of finding those kids. Elliot smiled sadly and gave her uninjured arm a reassuring squeeze.

"Come on. They want us at the crime scene," he said softly.

"What about Dominic? I don't want him to see something like that."

"I'll call Kathleen. She's been looking for a babysitting job."

Elliot made the call, then they dropped Dominic off at Elliot's apartment, where Kathleen was waiting. The little boy seemed terrified to leave Olivia's arms, but Elliot's daughter assured him they were going the have lots of fun together. Then the adults headed off to the crime scene.

When they finally made it to the building, Olivia stopped in the doorway and deliberated on coming in. Elliot noticed her unease and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. His touch brought a stinging pain when he accidentally bumped a wound on her back, but she hardly noticed.

"Completely different warehouse, Liv. Completely different circumstances," he whispered.

"I know," she said, stepping into the room, but Elliot could tell she was still worried.

"I won't let anything happen to you. I just got you back, and I'm not letting you go again."

"I know," she said, and this time it wasn't a lie.

Elliot led a somewhat less nervous Olivia to the crime scene, where they found Mason lying, pale and cold, on the concrete floor. Warner was doing the preliminary examination with a look of extreme concentration on her face.

"Cause of death?" asked Elliot.

"Um...I don't know yet." she said, looking the body over once more.

"What do you mean you don't know? Was he shot, stabbed, strangled? What is it, Warner?" Elliot shouted angrily.

"El," Olivia said, shooting him a look. Elliot paused in his rant, looked at Olivia, and realized what he was doing. He took a deep breath and turned to the clearly hurt M.E.

"Sorry, Melinda," he sighed. "I guess I'm still wound up a little tight. And I won't be able to relax until we find this guy."

"It's fine, Elliot. I get it. I've been shouting at my interns all day. I want you to catch this guy too," she said, then turned back to the body. "He lost some blood, but not enough to kill him, as far as I can tell. Has CSU taken pictures of the body so I can reposition it?" Elliot nodded and she rolled Mason onto his side and lifted his shirt to examine his back. She gasped and her face paled slightly when she saw the wounds. "Oh, no...Elliot, come look at this."

Elliot squatted down next to the body, curious about what could frighten the never-squeamish Medical Examiner. Olivia followed him, and when they saw the victim's back they both gasped.

Etched into Victor's skin with a sharp blade was a message of blood:

_**Back off, Olivia, or the next dead snitch will be you.**_

Olivia was extremely shaken by seeing her own death sentence carved into the flesh of a man they had seen alive so recently. Elliot scooted closer to her as she tried to pull herself together.

"I will not let Preston anywhere near you, Olivia," he said, his voice filled with determination. "I'll protect you."

Olivia nodded, but remained silent. Melinda continued to search for cause of death, then suddenly grinned triumphantly, which is a rather strange thing to do when one is squatting next to human remains.

"What? Did you find out how he died?"

"Even better," she said excitedly. "There's skin under his nails! We can find out exactly who did this!"

"But we already know who did it," said Olivia, her mind still moving slowly from the shock of Preston's 'message'.

"No, we don't," Elliot corrected. "We only know his aliases. But how much do you want to bet that the real Preston/Gallagher/Mason is in the system? We can find out his real name and, hopefully, where he's hiding."

They thanked the medical examiner, then headed back to the station to fill in the others and await the DNA results.

* * *

><p>"I hate this part," said Fin, who had finally gotten some much-needed sleep. "Waiting for DNA results is torture. And until they come back, we got nothing."<p>

"I know what you mean," said Elliot, tearing his gaze away from his partner. She had been entertaining Dominic at her desk, since all of them had given up on getting anything done. "At least they're making it priority. Plus, DNA testing has gotten a lot faster over the last couple years."

"Back in my day...-" Munch started, using his 'crabby-old-man' voice.

"-Yeah, we know," Fin interrupted. "Back in your day, cops rode around in carriages because there were no cars, and the only scientific tool you had was a magnifying glass."

"Oh, real funny, Fin," Munch pouted as the other three detectives burst out laughing. "I'll remember that little quip when I become your boss."

"Like anyone would ever put _you_ in a position of power," Liv chuckled.

"Um, excuse me. I have a package for an Olivia Benson," a voice called, interrupting the lighthearted moment the group had been sharing.

"Oh, thanks," Olivia said, still laughing. The delivery boy didn't even acknowledge her, but instead scurried put of the room as fast as he could. Olivia distractedly opened the box, still bickering playfully with Munch. She didn't see what it was until she heard a strange beeping sound. She looked down at the package, her smile disappearing and her face turning pale as she saw the glowing red numbers going down with each beep.

_**12...11...10...**_

"Liv, what is it?" Elliot asked worriedly.

_"BOMB!"_ Olivia shouted. "Everybody get down!"

Chaos ensued as everyone in the precinct tried to find cover, or simply ran from the room. It seemed to happen so fast, but later Olivia would realize it was the longest ten seconds of her life.

With no time to think or consider her options, Olivia grabbed Dominic and dove to the ground, protecting the boy's fragile body with her own. A deafening sound ripped the world in two. Then she saw a flash of light, and then absolutely nothing.

* * *

><p>Elliot froze when he saw the terrified look on his partner's face. When she screamed that there was a bomb, his instincts told him to sprint toward the doors. But as he looked over his shoulder, he saw Olivia trying to protect Dominic and he changed course. He would not let her die.<p>

Before he could reach her, the bomb's beeping became one long, shrill note and he dove to the ground just as it exploded.

Half a second of flames and noise, and then it was over.

_I'm alive._

Elliot did a quick check as he lay on the floor. Nothing seemed to be broken. Aside from being slightly dazed, he was fine.

"Fin!" a voice called out. "Fin, help me!"

"John?" Elliot asked, searching for the source of the voice. He spotted Munch trying to put out the fire on his pant leg. Elliot crawled over to him and used his jacket to smother the flames.

"You okay?" he asked. Munch nodded. "Where's Fin?"

"Over here!" Fin called. Munch went to his partner to assure his safety.

_Olivia._

"Olivia!" Elliot shouted, frantically scanning the room. "OLIVIA!"

"El."

Elliot barely heard the reply, but his heart beat even faster as he made his way in the direction the voice had come from.

"Olivia, where...where are you?" Elliot asked, still trying to catch his breath.

"Over here. There's something...on top of me. I...can't get up." Her answer was still quiet, and she, like Elliot, was fighting for breath.

"Dominic...?"

"He's...he's okay. We both are."

Elliot crawled over to the pile of rubble that used to be their desks, which seemed to have landed on top of Olivia.

"Liv, I can't move these desks. Lifting one piece might cause another to fall on you. Can you move at all?"

"Yes," she said, and there was a shift in the rubble as she did so. "Are you okay, Elliot?"

"I will be," he said, "as soon as we get you out of here."

Even in the darkness of the precinct, Elliot could see the desks move again as Olivia's arm slid out from underneath the debris. He reached put and took her hand in his. Their joined hands were illuminated by flashing blue and red lights as sirens filled the air.

"Elliot..."

"It's okay, Olivia. I'm right here. I'm not leaving. Not now, not ever."

The desks shifted slightly, and Olivia let out a cry of pain.

"E-El?"

"It's okay," he whispered again, squeezing her hand tighter. "I will never leave you, Olivia."

**I thought about ending with a cliffhanger, but I decided that I value my life. :) Please review, if you have the time!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry guys, but this chapter is going to be pretty fluffy. I promise, the action is coming soon. And I'm sorry this is so late, but I haven't had an Internet connection in days. I went camping, then I went to band camp for a week, and I had no way of posting. Please don't kill me. :) **

**I own nothing.**

Captain Cragen slowly got out from under his desk, his ears still ringing from the explosion. Once he got over the shock of what had just happened, he quickly left his office to see the damage that had been done. He was rooted to the spot by the image that greeted him.

Almost everyone was lying on the ground, though, luckily, not many of them seemed to be injured. Everything within a few feet of Olivia's desk had been blown away. _Wait, Olivia's desk?_ A rush of panic swept through the Captain.

"Olivia!" he called, searching frantically for the detective.

"Over here, Captain."

Cragen turned immediately toward the voice, and he felt relief coursing through his veins. He saw Elliot crouched next to the splintered remains of a few desks, and felt like an idiot. Of _course_ she was with Stabler. If you want to find one, you just have to find the other!

"Liv, are you hurt?" he asked, approaching the demolished desks. He saw Olivia's hand clutching Stabler's and realized she was in fact trapped beneath the desks.

"No, I'm okay," her voice replied. "I just can't get out yet. If Elliot tries to lift the desks, they could collapse."

"Where's Dominic?" he asked, concerned for the safety of the boy who had captured his detective's heart.

"I'm here," a tiny voice called. "'Livia protected me."

"Captain, could you tell me how everyone else is?" Olivia asked. "I know Munch is okay, but he's the only one El talked to."

"I'll tell you as soon as I find out myself," Cragen promised. With that, he walked away to check on the rest of his detectives.

"'Livia?" Dominic said meekly. "I'm scared."

"It's okay, Sweetie. We'll get out of here soon," she replied. She did her best to hug the boy in the limited space they had. He sniffed and cuddled into her as she stroked his brown curls reassuringly.

"I have mostly good news," Cragen announced, heading back to his two detectives. "Nobody was killed. In fact, the bomb must not have been very powerful at all. It caused little damage, and any fires it may have started have been put out already. Most of the officers were able to get out of the room in time, and those that didn't were far enough away that they received only bumps and bruises. Unfortunately, Fin landed heavily on his arm. Melinda says it's broken."

"My arm is fine!" Fin exclaimed, quickly approaching them. "You okay, Liv?"

"Yes, I'm fine. YOU, on the other hand, need to go get your arm fixed right now."

"Come on, Liv!" he whined.

"Go, or I swear that as soon as I get out of here, I'll break your other arm as well," she commanded. Only Olivia Benson could sound threatening when beneath a pile of desks. "You know the more you move it, the longer it will take to get better."

"Yes, Mother."

"And tell Munch that we need him. And maybe someone else, while you're over there," Cragen added. Fin agreed and moments later, Munch and Huang arrived. Elliot reluctantly let go of Olivia's hand, giving it one last squeeze as he stood to help the others.

"Okay, everyone needs to take a side and carefully lift the desks off of Benson," Cragen instructed. "Liv, if one of the pieces seems like it's going to fall on you, tell us and we'll stop."

The four men slowly lifted the splintered desks, and Olivia scrambled from beneath them, pulling Dominic along with her. They dropped the desks, and the other three left while Elliot hurried to his partner's side.

"Liv," he breathed, gently brushing her hair out of her face. His hand lingered for a moment on her cheek. She stared back at him with wide eyes, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. In that moment, Elliot wanted nothing more than to kiss Olivia Benson.

"'Livia? Can we go home?" Dominic asked quietly. Elliot mentally slapped himself. He couldn't kiss her in front of all these people! Besides, she was his partner. She didn't love him. Did she?

"Sure, Dominic. We can go home."

"Not until you're cleared by the medics!" Cragen called from the other side of the room. Olivia groaned, but did as he asked. The medics checked her head, which was hit with a piece of wood in the explosion, decided she did not have a concussion, and let her go.

"Liv, you're limping," Elliot whispered. She quickly corrected her gait.

"Nice try, Liv," Melinda called. "But I already noticed. Get over here."

"Come on, Mel!" she protested. "I'm fine. I just need to go home."

It turned out Olivia's injured leg didn't need stitches, so Melinda let her go, warning her not to return to work until the following day.

"I'm not saying this as your doctor, I'm saying this as your friend," she said. "Go home, and be careful. We both saw what was written on that body."

Elliot drove Olivia to his apartment, and she carried the sleeping Dominic into Eli's room. It was only six o'clock, so they decided to watch TV for awhile. The explosion at the precinct, while small in size, had already made the news. The reporters were making it sound much worse than it actually was. In fact, Olivia doubted that anyone was meant to be killed in the bombing. It was just to get their attention, and possibly injure Olivia.

"They really don't want us investigating this, do they?" Elliot commented. "First the car, then the bomb... Yet, neither of us have been injured."

"Let's hope it stays that way," she replied, still watching the news report. She jumped slightly when Elliot placed his hand on her shoulder. When she turned to face him, she was surprised at the concern in his expression.

"I'm worried about you," he said softly. "Perps have called you out before, but this is different. He could hurt you, maybe even kill you. What if... I can't protect you? You've already been through so much in the past few days."

"El, I'll be fine. We're close to catching Preston— I can feel it. And as for what I've been through..." she paused. "Well, let's just say I'm kind of used to it."

"Why?" Elliot asked. "Why are you used to it? You know, I've known you for over a decade, and I know almost nothing about your past." Olivia was silent. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. You don't have to tell me anything—"

"She loved me," Olivia said, interrupting him. "At least, I think she did. When she was sober, she said she loved me. But that wasn't too often. And when she was really drunk...she hated me. She'd tell me about how I ruined her life, how she had plans, how she could have gone places if it weren't for my father and me. And then sometimes she would...hit me. It wasn't too bad, but it was bad enough that I wanted out of that house. So when one of my mom's students told me he loved me and asked me to marry him, I believed him." She smiled sadly. "His name was Sam Clarke. He was twenty one, I was sixteen. He told me he would save me from my mother. He said he loved me. Nobody had ever said that to me before, and really meant it. So, naturally, I was head-over-heels. But I had to tell my mother." Her expression darkened. "She was drunk. When I told her about Sam, she lost it. She broke a bottle and came at me with it. So I...I kicked her..." She trailed off. "I could have killed her..."

"It wasn't your fault," Elliot whispered, rubbing her shoulder. Olivia was determined to finish the story.

"She ended up in the hospital, and I ended up in court. That, along with my mother threatening to kick him out of college, was all it took to drive Sam away."

Elliot was speechless and, for a moment, Olivia wondered if she was going to drive him away, too. But then he came out of his trance and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him.

"I'm so sorry, Olivia," he whispered. "Why didn't you ever tell anyone?"

"Because this is a man's job," she replied. "I need to be strong. To never show weakness. I need the people I work with to know that I have their backs. If I had told someone, they would have looked at me differently. They would treat me like I'm fragile...broken..."

"No, Olivia. We would look at you differently, yes. But if anything, we would see you as even stronger because of what you've overcome." He released her from his embrace and looked into her eyes.

"Telling someone that you're hurting isn't showing weakness, Liv."

Silence once again blanketed the room, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was a thoughtful silence as both of them digested what the other had said. Olivia had never opened up to anyone like that, and it felt surprisingly good. Elliot could tell there were more horrors in his partner's past, that he had barely scraped the surface, but he was happy that he had made some progress in getting her to open up. The two sat on the couch, not really paying attention to the TV, until they both fell asleep.

"No. Don't."

Elliot's eyes opened at the sound of Olivia's voice. He turned to face her, only to find her asleep with her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and there was a crease between her eyebrows that she always wore when she was upset.

"Please. Leave them alone. Take...take me," she mumbled.

"Liv?"

"No! Don't hurt him!"

"Olivia."

"Elliot...help me..." There was a desperation in her voice that shook him to the core.

"Olivia!"

Her eyes snapped open, and they were wide with fear as she gasped for air, unaware of her surroundings. Elliot placed a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched.

"It's okay, Liv. It's just me."

"El?" she whispered, looking at him like she hadn't seen him in years. Her jaw trembled slightly as she tried to control her emotions. "I...you...we were with Preston a-and he was hurting them, and he...he shot us..."

Elliot pulled her into him and held her to his chest as regained her composure.

"Shh. It was just a dream. I'm here, we're both okay. He can't hurt you anymore."

They sat in that position for what felt like hours, until a scream from within the house sent Olivia running to Dominic's room. She found the boy twisted in his bed sheets, tossing and turning with tears running down his face. Without a second thought, Olivia sat down on his bed and lifted him onto her lap, rubbing his back softly. Dominic's big, blue eyes opened and stared at her for a second from behind glistening tears, then threw his little arms around her neck.

"Please don't let the bad man hurt me, 'Livia," he sobbed.

"It's okay, Dominic. It wasn't real. The bad man will never hurt you again. I promise."

Dominic looked up at her again, still clinging to her neck.

"You'll protect me, like you did before?" he asked.

"Yes. I'll protect you."

"I love you, 'Livia."

Dominic buried his curls in Olivia's shirt, and she rocked him back and forth, humming softly until he fell asleep. Elliot watched the scene from the doorway, amazed at how quickly the little boy had captured his partner's heart. There was no doubt in his mind that she should adopt him, and after the events of the day, he knew Olivia was probably thinking the same thing. He watched her place a kiss on Dominic's forehead and lay him back down, then he led her back to the couch.

"Sorry I, uh, fell asleep on you earlier," she said anxiously. Elliot simply slid his hand behind her shoulders.

"Don't worry about it." He smiled at her. "You know, you're really great for Dominic. Seeing you with him, it's just so _natural_."

"Well I made my decision," she replied, smiling back. "I actually talked to someone with child services about adopting him. I'm planning on making it official once all this is over, if they let me take him."

"That's great!" Elliot exclaimed. "I'm sure they'll let you take him; he already loves you."

"I hope so. Because I don't want them to take Dominic like they took Calvin." She was drifting to sleep as she spoke.

"I hope so too, Olivia. You deserve to have a family."

**I'm sorry it's so cheesy and non-action-y, but I promise the action is coming VERY soon. I just ****didn't want to end with a cliffhanger, because that would be mean. Please review; it helps me a lot. I write faster when you awesome readers write those reviews. :)  
><strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, guys, I am REALLY sorry. I know this chapter is super late, but I had a MAJOR writer's block on this one. I really hope it was worth the wait, there's going to be a lot of excitement in this chapter. Thanks for reading!**

Elliot and Olivia awoke to Stabler's phone ringing. He scrambled to answer it, and Olivia awkwardly slid out from beneath his arm. She may not have been an expert on relationships, but falling asleep in his arms didn't seem like something 'just partners' did for each other.

"That was the Captain," Elliot said, his voice breaking into her confused and groggy thoughts. "The DNA results are in."

"Oh, good. Maybe now we can finally end this case," Olivia said, relieved. "But... What do I do about Dominic? I don't want to bring him with us after the bomb fiasco, but I don't want to leave him with someone else, either. What if Preston comes back?"

Before Elliot could answer, there was a knock on the door. Olivia got up to answer it, and found Casey Novak on the other side.

"Hey, Casey! What are you doing all the way out here?" Elliot asked.

"I'm here to take Dominic for the day," she said, attempting a smile. "You guys have to work on catching Preston. And... I have to talk to you, Liv."

"About what?"

The smile on Olivia's face was too genuine, and Casey absolutely hated saying what she was about to tell her. She gestured for her to step outside so they could have a bit of privacy.

"Liv, how serious are you about adopting Dominic?" she asked.

"How did you—"

"I have friends in family court, and I know you talked to someone with ACS. And, Liv, I think it's great, but..."

"But?"

"Like I said, I have friends in family court, and I heard that... Mike Quinby's wife is also applying for custody. And it looks like she might get it."

Olivia stared at her friend, a feeling of dread creeping into her mind. She couldn't lose Dominic, not after she already started loving him. And certainly not to the wife of the man who sold him to Preston in the first place.

"But, why would they even _consider_ giving him to a woman who allowed her husband to do what he did? She didn't even report him missing!"

"She claims that Mike forced her to do it."

"What if she's lying?"

"Nobody will believe she isn't telling the truth. They look at a guy like Mike, and they see an abuser, every time. I'm sorry, Olivia."

Casey saw the expression on her friend's face, and she knew she had seen that look before. It was the same look she had when Vivian had taken Calvin away.

"But don't worry," she said, trying for a smile. "I'll get you a really good lawyer— the best there is."

"Second best," said Olivia, smiling back. "You're the best, Case."

"Oh, you're too kind. Now, please, get out there and put that lunatic behind bars."

"Believe me, I will."

When they got to the station, they found Morales behind a computer, beads of sweat sticking to his forehead. He seemed so focused on his work, they were surprised he noticed them coming in.

"I've been doing all sorts of digging on this guy. His name's Bryce Masters, and there are plenty of things about him that seem shifty. In and out of Juvenile Facilities when he was a kid, mostly for stealing. Several reports of beating his girlfriends when he was a teen, but they all recanted. A DUI. Assault and battery, charges dropped."

"I'm seeing a pattern here," Elliot muttered.

"Could you look up any property he might own?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah. A house in Brooklyn and a warehouse in Manhattan."

"What is it with these guys and warehouses?" Munch asked.

The Captain, who had been listening to the entire conversation, finally spoke up.

"Fin and Munch, you go to the house. See if Masters is there, and arrest him if he is. Benson and Stabler, you check out the warehouse. This could be another false trail, but we have to make sure. If you see anything out of the ordinary, call for backup."

"We will," Olivia said. It was a good thing she was now able to take her arm out of its sling, for otherwise Cragen probably would have made her stay behind.

"Okay, go. And be careful. All of you."

They all nodded and went their separate ways.

Elliot and Olivia hopped into their car, praying that this arrest would be an easy one, but knowing it wouldn't. It was a quick drive to the warehouse, so they barely had enough time to come up with a plan on the way.

"I know one thing, though," Elliot said, more to himself than to his partner, "I am not letting us get separated this time."

* * *

><p>When they arrived at the building, everything seemed completely normal. They drew their guns as a precaution and opened the door. Olivia was disappointed that they had, once again, followed a false lead, for if this were the right place, they would have seen the guard by now. Despite this knowledge, she didn't let her guard down, just in case.<p>

They quietly pushed one of the doors open, and Olivia gasped at what she saw. Several children were huddled in the corner, most of whom Olivia immediately recognized.

"Olivia?" the young boy asked hopefully.

"Charlie! Thank God you're all okay. Come with me," she said. She gestured for the children to follow her from the room. "Quickly, now. We don't have much time."

The children quickly filed out of the room. Just before Charlie, Elliot, and Olivia could leave, though, a door swung open to reveal Bryce Masters, AKA Alec Preston.

"Oh, Detective Benson, Detective Stabler!" he said, as if greeting old friends. "So nice of you to join us."

Elliot and Olivia raised their guns once again, and saw that Masters had lifted his own, pointing it directly at Charlie.

"Drop the gun, Masters. It's all over," Elliot commanded.

"Now, why on earth would I do that?"

"Because if you don't, we'll have to kill you now."

"Oh, really? How do you know that I won't kill this innocent little boy here before the bullet hits me? We both know you can't shoot me unless I shoot first."

"We also know that if you even _think_ about pulling that trigger, _we'll _shoot _you_."

"Then I suppose we've reached an impasse," Masters said, sighing sadly. "Pity. I was so looking forward to killing you. Especially you, _Livvie_."

"You don't deserve to talk to her," Elliot growled.

"I wonder, who would be more fun to kill? This young boy here, or the lovely Olivia?"

He moved so that the gun was pointed toward Liv instead. While he was preoccupied, Elliot quietly nudged Charlie, then quickly pushed him through the door. Seeing the movement, Preston turned towards Elliot.

Time moved in slow motion.

Masters.

The gun.

The finger slowly squeezing the trigger.

Elliot.

_No!_

Just as Masters pulled the trigger, Olivia threw herself at her partner, shoving him to the ground.

An earth-shattering _bang_ reverberated off the walls.

Olivia's body smacked into the hard pavement, knocking the wind out of her in a loud gasp.

Elliot lifted his gun and fired twice. Masters was dead.

"That was a close one, huh, Liv?" he asked. "...Liv?" He grinned and looked down at her, but she had become motionless. "Olivia?" he said, his smile fading and his voice becoming urgent. He rolled her over and saw the hole the bullet had torn through her shirt.

She'd been shot.

As he watched, a scarlet stain grew bigger and bigger on the white fabric. He lifted the hem of her shirt, and he felt his eyes widen as he saw the bullet wound on her abdomen.

"El..." a quiet voice called. He quickly looked up and saw Olivia's big brown eyes staring back at him. "El, there's...something I need to tell you, before...before I go…"

"No," he said, grabbing her hand and holding it tight. "No, Liv, you're not going anywhere!"

"Elliot, I..." the words caught in her throat and a tear ran down her face. "I lo..."

"Shh, I know, Liv. It's okay. It's gonna be okay."

She gripped his hand tighter and squeezed her eyes shut, barely trapping the groan behind her teeth, the whimper that threatened to escape her lips. This was pain as she had never experienced it.

"I love you, too," Elliot whispered.

Her grip suddenly loosened and her face relaxed.

"No...No! Liv! Stay with me!" Elliot grabbed his radio. "OFFICER DOWN! OFFICER DOWN! My partner has been shot! I need a bus, now! Please, Liv! Olivia! Please, don't...don't leave me...I can't live without you. I can't! OLIVIA!"

She wasn't responding. Was she even breathing?

"Liv! Olivia, _please_! Please, open your eyes. Let me see those beautiful eyes again. Please, Olivia!"

Olivia was fighting to comply, but her eyelids weren't obeying her commands. Finally, with great effort, she managed to open them slightly.

"El…" she said, so softly he barely heard it.

"Liv! Just keep your eyes open, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"Elliot, I've always…"

"Shh, don't try to talk. Just stay with me."

"I…I can't."

"What? No! Don't you dare close those eyes, Olivia!"

"I'm sorry."

Her eyes drifted shut, and didn't open again.

Elliot barely noticed when the ambulance pulled up outside. The only thing he noticed was that his partner, his best friend, the love of his life, wasn't moving.

He held tight to her hand. He held it like he was a helium balloon, and her hand was the only thing weighing him down as his body threatened to float away. As the paramedics loaded her onto the stretcher and he was forced to let go, he felt a sob erupt from his chest.

_If she dies..._

"No! She won't die!"

_But if she does...it will be your fault._

Elliot didn't argue this time. He just slowly fell to the ground. He closed his eyes, but all he could see was the fear in her eyes, the blood on her shirt, the hole in her stomach.

A car pulled up outside the warehouse, and Fin and Munch hopped out. They saw Elliot sitting with his face buried in his hands as the ambulance drove away, and they shared a worried glance.

"Hey, El, what happened?" Munch asked. When Elliot looked up at him, he was worried further. "Why is there blood on your face?" But Elliot didn't care that he had smeared Olivia's blood all over himself.

"Munch! Fin!" he exclaimed, as if seeing them for the first time. "I need you to drive me to the hospital."

"Stabler, where's Liv?" Fin asked, looking around. When he saw the pain and urgency in Elliot's expression, he understood immediately. "Munch, give me the keys."

They jumped into the vehicle and Fin stepped on it. On the way to the hospital, Elliot tried to close his eyes. But all he could see was what, out of everything that happened that day, had scared him the most: Liv's peaceful expression as they loaded her onto the stretcher, as if all the pain had left her.

"Please, Olivia. Please hang on."

**I'm sorry! I know it was kind of a cliffhanger, but this was the only way I could close the chapter!**

**Please review. I'll try to update soon, but I started school last week, so I might not be able to.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I think this is my longest chapter yet, so hope you like it. Sorry about the wait.**

**I am not a doctor, and I own nothing!**

Elliot was pacing the floor in the emergency room. Every time an ER doctor walked by, he looked up hopefully. And every time he realized they had no news for him, it was like he had lost her again. Fin watched the agony in his eyes, and he couldn't blame him. Liv was like a little sister to Fin. He couldn't imagine how Elliot must feel right now, since she was so much more to him. Fin knew it, Munch knew it. Heck, the whole precinct knew it. The only people who didn't seem to know it were Liv and Elliot. But as Fin looked at Elliot's fierce expression, it was obvious that now he knew.

The doors to the ER opened, and Cragen burst in, closely followed by Casey. Cragen immediately turned to Fin and Munch.

"What happened?" he demanded. Olivia had always thought of him as a father figure, but to him, she was his daughter—his only daughter—and he needed to know that she was okay.

"Liv's been shot," Munch said without looking up. The shock hadn't worn off yet. The shock that Olivia Benson, the strongest woman on Earth, had been injured. The shock that was now displayed on the faces of everyone in the room. Casey was standing next to Elliot with her hand on his shoulder. He reluctantly stopped pacing, but he still stared at the ground with pain-filled eyes.

"El..." she said softly. "Elliot, what happened?"

Elliot finally looked up, but he seemed to be attempting to figure it out for himself. What_ had _happened?

"Liv, she...she..." he began, still in denial. "Why would she do that? She shouldn't have—"

"El!" Casey said, calling him back to the present. "Please. She was my friend too. Tell us what happened."

Elliot knew now. He knew exactly how Liv had been shot. He knew who was to blame, whose fault it was that she had ended up bleeding on the hard concrete floor of the abandoned warehouse. He met Casey's gaze, as well as Cragen's, Fin's, and Munch's, and took a deep breath.

"She took a bullet for me."

His confession was followed by the loudest silence he had ever heard.

"How bad is it?" Cragen asked finally.

"It's bad, Captain."

Suddenly, Elliot knew he had to get out of there. He couldn't breathe. He was remembering the blood...so much blood...

"I'm going...to get some air..."

He all but sprinted from the waiting room.

"Someone should check on him," Cragen muttered, still in shock.

"I've got it, Captain," said Casey. "Please, call if you hear anything."

She stood and walked outside. For the first time, she noticed that it was raining.

"Elliot?"

She heard a quiet sound and turned toward the source. Elliot was sitting in the grass, his head bowed, as if there was a weight pressing down on him that he couldn't lift.

"El?" she said quietly. At first, she thought he couldn't hear her, but he finally spoke.

"She was so _still_."

"W-what?"

"She...she closed her eyes, and she stopped moving. It was like she was giving up..."

"No. No, Elliot, you know she'd never give up. She's a fighter—you'll see. She'll be alright."

"I hope you're right."

He was quiet for awhile, then he buried his face in his knees. He was remembering her still form lying on the concrete, almost like she was sleeping.

"Elliot, talk to me. What's going on? I know you're upset, but what else is bothering you?"

When he looked up at her, his eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and her jaw almost dropped. This was Tough-Guy Stabler, completely broken.

"I...I just..." He turned away from Casey again and lowered his voice to a whisper. "I don't know if I can do it."

"What can't you do, Elliot?"

"I...I can't live without her."

At that moment, there was no doubt in Casey's mind that Elliot had woken up. He was no longer oblivious to his feelings. He finally knew what she had known from the first day she met them. Of course, that didn't make it any less shocking when he said it.

"Casey, I love her."

He buried his face again and his shoulders shook with silent sobs.

"I know, Elliot. We all love her," Casey said comfortingly.

"No..." He needed to say this, he needed someone to understand. "No, Casey. I _love_ her."

"You mean...?"

"I mean, I'm head-over-heels, crazy in love with her." There. He had finally said it out loud. "I can't do this without her. I can't..." One of the tears that he had thus far kept under control ran down his cheek.

"Does...I mean, does Liv know?"

Elliot closed his eyes, as if reliving another memory.

"I told her...after Masters shot her. She said..." he trailed off, lost in memory. "And then...and then she..."

Casey felt the tears swimming in her own eyes, and couldn't help but let them fall. She sat in silence with Elliot for a few more minutes, then stood, helping Elliot to his feet. She led him back to the dreaded waiting room, where they sat back down and awaited news of Olivia's condition.

It seemed that they were waiting for days, but it was really only a few hours. At some point, Melinda showed up, as well as Huang, who sat away from the rest of the group, feeling out-of-place. He knew that Elliot would have to talk about what had happened to him and Olivia, but he wasn't there as a psychiatrist; he was there as a friend.

Finally, a doctor called out,

"Family of Olivia Benson?"

Elliot leapt to his feet, followed closely by the rest of Olivia's SVU family.

"Are you the family?" the doctor asked in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

"We are," Elliot said emphatically.

"What is your relationship to Ms. Benson? I cannot disclose information to anyone who is not a blood relative."

"She doesn't have any blood relatives. We _are_ her family," said Cragen, leaving no room for argument. The doctor considered this for a moment, then nodded.

"Please. Is she going to be okay?" asked Elliot. The doctor paused, then shifted uncomfortably.

"Ms. Benson lost a lot of blood. It's amazing that she survived, and if the EMT's had arrived even minutes later, she probably wouldn't have. She was in surgery for a few hours, and she crashed twice..."

"But is she _okay_?" asked Munch.

"She's in a coma."

Elliot's blood ran cold. He couldn't hear himself speaking. It was as if he wasn't really there.

"Will she wake up?" he almost whispered.

"We believe so, but...I'm sorry, I can't make any promises."

She began to explain exactly what was going on with Olivia, but Elliot didn't hear a word of it. His ears were ringing too loudly. There was chance Olivia wouldn't wake up? Everything was blurry, and he felt his knees start to give out. Munch and Fin steadied him and helped him sit down.

"I'll allow visitors in a few minutes. We're moving her to a room right now." Having said all she needed to say, the doctor left the room.

"Elliot, are you alright?" asked Huang. He knew from experience that when one of the partners got hurt, so did the other. The last thing they needed right now was another hurt detective.

"I'm fine," he said, his voice surprisingly even. "Let's go see Olivia."

The group walked down the halls until they reached Olivia's room, and Elliot stopped abruptly. Did he really want to see what was behind that door?

_This isn't about me. This is about Liv._

He steeled himself, and entered with the others. Several of them gasped when they saw their friend, but Elliot remained silent. The sight of Olivia Benson, the strongest person he knew, looking so weak and helpless, had rendered him speechless. Her normally olive-toned skin was as pale as the sheets on which she was resting. There were dark circles under her eyes, which were closed. She was hooked up to countless tubes and wires, and there was an oxygen tube under her nose. She looked so vulnerable, so breakable, as if the slightest touch would shatter her into a million pieces. For a moment, everyone stood in the doorway, staring at their fallen detective in shock, and then Elliot ran to her side, unable to be away from her for another second. After he had taken Olivia's hand in his, the others approached her bed as well. Casey held her other hand, and Cragen gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"What've you gotten yourself into this time, Baby Girl?" Fin asked quietly, taking a seat next to his 'baby sister'. Even Munch didn't have a witty remark that time, so they sat in silence. It seemed like seconds had gone by, but it was really hours that they were waiting there, before a nurse forced them to leave.

"Visiting hours are over. Only one person may stay with a comatose patient during the night," she said firmly. The group left reluctantly, leaving Elliot with Olivia.

"Doctor Warner," Cragen said, as soon as the door was shut behind him, "I'm no doctor. In your opinion, how bad does it look?"

"Well..." Melinda said slowly. "They didn't need to intubate, so that's a good sign. According to the doctor, the bullet didn't hit anything too important..."

"But what are her chances of a full recovery?"

Melinda shook her head sadly.

"Honestly, Captain? I don't know."

* * *

><p><strong>(Hours earlier, in the warehouse)<strong>

Just as Masters pulled the trigger, Olivia threw herself at her partner. Before they hit the ground, something slammed into Olivia's side, pushing her backwards slightly, and pain erupted in her stomach.

She heard Elliot say something to her, but she didn't hear it. Her eyes were squeezed shut against the pain, and she was doing everything she could to keep from screaming. She felt herself being rolled onto her back, and heard a gasp.

_Don't pass out_, she instructed herself. That was easier said than done. She kept fighting to stay awake, the same thoughts playing over and over in her mind._ I am _not_ going to die without telling him._

"El..." She winced when her voice came out in a raspy whisper. "There's something I need to tell you, before I...go..."

"No." Elliot said, his voice filled with panic. "No, Liv, you're not going _anywhere_. You're gonna be fine!"

"Elliot, I..." She _had_ to get the words out, just in case she didn't make it, but her mouth wasn't functioning properly. "Elliot, I lo..."

"Shh, I know, Liv. It's okay. It's gonna be okay."

Olivia groaned as a new wave of pain hit her, and she could feel the darkness, which had been looming ominously around her, beginning to close in on her. Elliot's voice echoed in her mind as she fought to stay conscious.

"I love you, too, Liv."

She couldn't hold on any longer. Confident that she had gotten her message across, Olivia closed her eyes as the darkness overwhelmed her. As if from a distance, she heard Elliot shouting, begging her to wake up.

"Liv! Olivia, please! Please, open your eyes. Let me see those beautiful eyes again. Please, Olivia!"

The desperation in Elliot's voice brought a new pain, this time in her chest. She fought with all the strength she possessed, and was finally able to open her eyes.

"El..." she said softly.

"Liv! Just keep your eyes open, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"Elliot," she tried again, "I've always..."

"Shh, don't try to talk. Just stay with me."

"I...I can't."

"What? No! Don't you dare close those eyes, Olivia!" he commanded desperately.

She wanted to listen to him, so badly, but the darkness was too heavy to fight anymore.

"I'm sorry."

The rest was all a blur. She heard Elliot's voice, felt his hand in hers. She heard muffled shouting, someone barking orders. She felt herself being lifted on something hard, and Elliot releasing her hand.

_No, Elliot, please don't leave me._

"GSW to abdomen...pulse is faint...significant blood loss..." Voices echoed around her, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. Every jostle of the vehicle caused more pain to her body. Suddenly, she was hit with a wave of such incomprehensible agony that she couldn't breathe.

"I'm losing her! We need to—"

Silence.

_She was surrounded by light. It wasn't a fake fluorescent brightness, but a golden glow that allowed her to see perfectly the people around her. She was in a huge, grassy field, and there were people, mostly women and a few children, surrounding her on all sides. They all looked familiar, but she couldn't process where she'd seen them before. Then she remembered. She remembered seeing them beneath a tarp, or inside a body bag, or on a table in the morgue—the dead victims for whom she had found justice._

_As she watched, two children stepped out from the rest of the crowd and her heart sank. One was older, maybe seventeen, and was holding the hand of the other girl, who couldn't have been more than eleven. It was Cecilia and Gracie, two of the girls she had met when she had been kidnapped. And if they were here..._

_"Gracie! Cecilia!" she said sadly. "How...What happened?"_

_"Mr. Preston—or Masters, I guess—caught us all trying to escape. He decided to punish us, he would kill Gracie and me," Cecilia said, as if she were discussing something far less morbid and disgusting than the murder of a child._

_"I'm so sorry!" Olivia exclaimed, her voice breaking._

_"It's okay, 'Livia!" Gracie said happily. "We like it here. Isn't it beautiful?" She spun around like a ballerina, grinning from ear to ear with an innocence that broke Olivia's heart._

_"Why are you all here? And where _is_ here?"_

_"We're here because you brought us justice, Olivia," said one of the women. "We can rest peacefully knowing that those who hurt us will never hurt again."_

_"We can't tell you where you are," said another woman. "You've got to figure that out for yourself."_

_"Am I going to stay here forever?" Olivia asked._

_"That's up to you," said a young woman of about nineteen. "But we want to try to convince you otherwise."_

_"But it's so beautiful here...and all the pain is gone..." she said. "Why would I want to leave?"_

_"Because there are people out there who still need justice. And you can't help them if you're here," said Cecilia._

_"They need you, Olivia," said Gracie, still smiling. "They need you..."_

"She's back!"

"Okay, let's get her down to surgery, stat."

The pain came roaring back. Something was pressed to her face, and there were lights shining brightly above her. People were swarming chaotically, as if a life depended on it, and she soon realized that _her_ life _did_ depend on it.

"We have to find the source of the bleeding."

"She's crashing..."

_This time, there was no field, just a white room. She was sitting on the floor, and across from her was someone she recognized._

_"Mom?"_

_"Olivia. I was wondering when you'd get here," her mother said, smiling sadly. "It seems you once again have a choice to make, my dear."_

_"But...why..."_

_"Olivia, I know I wasn't a very good mother. I know I have no right to tell you anything about parenting. But there's a little boy out there who needs you. You know he can't go back to his foster mother. And there's a man down there who needs you as well. He may not seem like he needs anyone, but underneath all that anger and toughness, he needs you. Do you understand?"_

_"Yeah. I know what I have to do."_

_And Olivia fought. She fought with heart, mind, body, and soul. The darkness pressed down on her, threatening to crush her, but she pushed back, until she could see the light again._

"I've got a pulse!"

"Oh, thank God. Let's stitch her up and get her down to the ICU."

It was still dark, but Olivia knew she had fought. And she had won.

**Okay, I think I deserve a review for that one. It was super long.**

**And did any of you really think I would kill Olivia? I'm not THAT evil! **


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm sorry this is so late. The season thirteen premiere, in addition to starting my first year of high school, has sent me into a bit of a depression. Just so you know, this story will be completely disregarding all that season 13 nonsense. I'm sorry to all you action-loving readers, but this will probably be mostly fluff. I own nothing.**

Darkness.

There was darkness everywhere, so much that it was almost tangible. The overwhelming blackness covered her like a heavy blanket, rendering her immobile.

She could hear noises. There was a steady beeping sound whose continuity was beginning to drive her insane. There was the whooshing sound of air being forced into her through a tube she couldn't quite feel resting on her nose. She could hear talking. Quiet whispers of familiar voices. Then there was nothing again.

"Olivia."

A voice echoed through the darkness, reverberating off the walls of her mind.

"Olivia, please wake up."

It was Elliot, and he was pleading with her. It sounded alien to her ears. In all her years of knowing him, she had never known Elliot Stabler to plead. But here he was, begging her to wake up.

She tried. God knows, she tried. She pushed against the darkness, but it wouldn't budge. Her limbs wouldn't move. She was seized by a panic that was calmed only by his voice.

Elliot stared down at his fallen partner's bedside, unsure of his emotions. He was relieved beyond belief that she was alive, but also overwhelmed with worry about her condition. He wished that there was some magic word he could say to make it all better, but he knew there wasn't. That didn't mean that he wasn't going to try anyway.

"Olivia," he said, relishing the familiar feel of her name rolling off his tongue. "Olivia, let me tell you a story. It's a sad story, I suppose, but really it depends on where you choose to end it. You alone have the power to give this story a happy ending.

"Once upon a time, there was a young man who had just completed his training to become a police officer. He had no idea what he was doing, or who he was going to be, but he was disappointed when he was assigned to the Special Victims' Unit. He had wanted a job that made him feel more 'manly', more 'on-the-edge'. He wanted to be a hero for his wife and his new daughter. Then, on his first day at SVU, he met his partner..."

_Elliot walked into the building, his brand new badge bouncing off his chest as it gleamed in the dim lighting of the precinct. He took little notice of the people around him, far too absorbed in visions of the future. It wasn't that he was conceited; he was simply a new detective who was desperate to show what he could do. His mind was filled with the delusions that all young men share._

_"Here's your desk, Detective," said the man next to him. Cragen was his name. "And this is your new partner, Detective Benson. She's new here as well. Munch here will show you two the ropes, don't worry."_

_But Stabler wasn't listening. He was busy taking in his new partner._

_"Hey," she said, smiling widely. "Olivia Benson."_

_"Elliot Stabler," he replied, extending his hand._

"She was a young woman of about his age, more beautiful than he could have possibly imagined. The man secretly scoffed at the idea of having a female partner. He had nothing against women, but he doubted that anyone so strikingly beautiful could shoot a gun with accuracy, or chase down a suspect without breaking a nail, or handle bloody crime scenes and distressed victims. On their first case, she proved him wrong."

_The victim was a young girl who couldn't have been older than five. None of the officers could get her to talk, and she was backed against the wall, trembling. Her freckled face and big, sad eyes, which were swimming with far too many terrors for a little girl, just about broke Elliot's heart. He wasn't sure if he was ready for this. Olivia, on the other hand, went straight to work._

"_Hi, Sweetie," she said, kneeling down next to the little girl. She didn't touch her, which seemed to put the girl more at ease, and she looked directly into the girl's eyes. "What's your name?"_

_Most of the other officers had carefully avoided the girl's eyes, only making her more anxious, but this woman wasn't like that. The girl immediately felt a sense of trust and decided to answer._

"_Lori," she said quietly. _

"_Hi, Lori. My name's Olivia. Why don't you come with Elliot and me to the Police Station, okay?" Lori whimpered slightly when she saw Elliot, and clung closer to Olivia. "It's okay, he's my partner. He's nice, I promise."_

"_Hey, Honey. My name's Elliot. I'm not gonna hurt you."_

_The girl looked from Elliot, to Olivia, and back again. Finally, she made a decision and grabbed Olivia's hand in one of hers, and Elliot's in the other. The partners led the little girl down the street as if she were their own._

"After seeing her talk to a victim, the man was convinced that his partner belonged with SVU, and he had a whole new outlook on the unit. She had showed him that he didn't need to be a 'hero' for his daughter. He only had to make the world a better place for her, and SVU was the best place to do it. Despite all this, the man was still wary. He didn't know if his partner would be able to have his back, should the situation arise. By the end of that same case, he had his answer."

_Detectives Munch, Cassidy, Stabler, and Benson were standing near their perp, Stiles. After a long investigation, they'd finally found him, and they were sure the coward would come without a fight. _

"_Wilfred Stiles, you are under arrest. You have the right to-"_

_Before Olivia had the chance to cuff him, the perp surprised them all by pulling a gun out from inside his jacket. He aimed it in the general direction of the other three detectives._

"_Drop the guns, all of you, or I'll start shooting!" he shouted._

"_Alright, alright, we'll drop ours, then you'll drop yours," Elliot said calmly while the others lowered their weapons. Stiles started to lower his gun, then quickly brought it back up, aiming directly at Elliot. Olivia, seeing this, tackled Stiles and a bang rang out. _

"She saved his life that day, and he knew that he could always trust her to have his back. He also realized just how strong the bond between partners could go."

_Elliot rushed to his partner's side, chest constricting with worry. For one terrifying nanosecond, it seemed that she wasn't getting up._

"_Olivia! Are you hurt?"_

"_I'm fine," she replied, standing up and handing Stiles' gun to Elliot with a smile. "You won't have to start looking for a new partner just yet."_

"_Cassidy might, though," said Munch. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"_

_They all laughed as they threw Stiles (somewhat roughly) into the waiting car. Munch declared that they would all go out to drinks, and only Olivia declined. _

"_Come on, Benson. I'll buy you a drink," Elliot persuaded. _

"_I don't really drink that much…" she said, shaking her head._

"_Aw, come on, Liv. It's the least I can do." He thought she might be insulted by the nickname, but she just smiled._

"_Fine. But only one."_

"Starting that day, slowly but surely, the man began to fall in love. He never consciously thought about these feelings‒he _was_ married, after all‒but he couldn't quite get rid of them. When his marriage, which had always been somewhat loveless, finally ended, she was there for him.

"His marriage was over, but they still weren't together. Why? Because he was an idiot and a coward. He was foolish enough to hold his feelings in. Then, one day, the woman was taken from the man. He did everything he could to find her, and he finally did. But the woman's heart was too big to simply let go of the case. Then, when they finally found the perp, she did the same thing she had done years ago, when they first met. Only this time, the bullet hit her.

"And so, the man, paralyzed by fear of never seeing his only love again, decided to tell her a story to try to bring her back. It wasn't a sad story, but it had a very sad ending. Now it is up to her to make it a happy one."

* * *

><p>ADA Casey Novak whipped the tears from her eyes. She had never seen her friend looking so weak, and it terrified her.<p>

"Come on, Casey," she admonished. "Don't break down now."

She thought about the sad news that she'd given Olivia just a day before. Had it really only been a day? She remembered the pain in her friend's eyes, carefully veiled with a fake smile as Casey told her she'd get her a the best lawyer there was.

"_Second best," _Olivia had said, smiling._ "You're the best, Case."_

Remembering those words, Casey knew what she had to do. She left the hospital and drove herself to the courthouse.

"Don't worry, Liv," she said quietly. "I'm going to get Dominic back, if it's the last thing I do."

* * *

><p>Olivia listened in silence as Elliot told her his story. If only she could speak to him, tell him how she had felt on the days he was describing to her. How, when Stiles pulled the trigger, the only thought in her mind had been, <em>Elliot. <em>

"Please, Olivia," he said again. "Please, Liv, I love you."

She pressed against the darkness like an enemy. She fought, and she pushed, until, finally, she felt her fingers twitch.

"Liv?" Elliot asked, his voice full of hope and longing. He rubbed her palm gently with his thumb. "Olivia, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand."

She did.

"Oh, thank God! Now open your eyes for me, Liv. You can do it."

It took nearly every ounce of willpower she possessed, but, with one final push against the darkness, she began to see the light. Her eyes opened, at first just a sliver, then halfway.

"That's it! You're awake!" Elliot looked like he wanted to jump up and down with joy. He was about to say something else but she beat him to it.

"Once upon a time," she said, her voice raspy but audible, "there was a woman who had finally made detective, She was so excited for her first day, yet so very nervous. You see, she had never known much love or friendship growing up. Her mother was an abusive alcoholic, and the kids at school didn't generally associate with her. She didn't know what to think when she arrived at the sixteenth precinct and found that everyone there was a family. Then she met her partner.

"He was married, so she tried not to think about it much, but from the moment she met him, they shared a connection. They didn't know what it was, but something held them together. He was her first real friend, and she had always loved him, even though she'd never admit it to herself. Then, one day, something awful happened, and she finally admitted that she loved him with all her heart. A terrible string of events led them to this hospital, where he convinced her to keep on fighting, and she woke up." Olivia paused for a moment, swallowing slightly. "I love you, Elliot. I always have, and I always will."

"I love you, too," he whispered. "I don't know why it took so long for us to come to our senses, but what I _do _know is, now that I have you back, I will never let you go."

They smiled at each other.

"Liv?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to the man and the woman in the story?"

Olivia grabbed her partner's shirt and pulled him down until his face was right in front of hers. Their lips met in a moment of pure, all-consuming love, and the world around them disappeared. When they finally pulled apart, they were both smiling.

"They lived happily ever after."

**Horray! They finally kissed! I know that chapter was **_**extremely **_**cheesy, but, hey, how else do you right a romantic scene? Please tell me if you like it. Reviews help me write, and let me know if I'm on the right track.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Once again, I feel I must apologize. High school is turning out to be harder than I thought. Anyway, since there is so much time between updates, I should give a brief recap of what's happened so far.**

**PREVIOUSLY ON LAW AND ORDER: SVU— (I've always wanted to say that...) Olivia is kidnapped by the leader of a child-selling ring. He tortures her for the whereabouts of his escaped "property", but she refuses to tell. While there, she meets a 4-year-old named Dominic. Elliot rescues her and Dominic, and Olivia decides to try to adopt the boy, but there are legal complications involving his old foster mother. After much investigating, they find the perpetrator, Masters. He tries to shoot Stabler, and Liv takes the bullet. She ends up in a coma, which Elliot wakes her from, after which they kiss (quite cheesily, I might add).**

**Sorry, that was kinda long. Anyway, I think I'll start off with showing the other characters' perspective on all of this. I own nothing. On with the show!**

The sixteenth precinct was strangely, unnervingly quiet. A black hole had swallowed the entire building, and the silence was getting louder by the minute. At the center of the black hole were two empty desks, which seemed to glare at the solemn detectives. The absence of those by whom the desks were usually occupied was so blatantly obvious, it was slowly driving them all mad. The only question was, who would be the first to succumb to the hysteria threatening to take over the area?

As if in answer to this unspoken question, Fin Tutuola slammed his fist on his own desk, the loud SLAM shattering the carefully preserved silence.

"I can't take much more of this, Munch!" he exclaimed. Everyone but Elliot had been forced to return to work, as they had no idea when Benson would be waking up.

"I know," his partner replied, his sarcastic tone not quite as snarky as usual. "I'm getting too old for this."

"You and me both, and I'm not nearly as old and decrepit as you," Fin replied. Several officers laughed, but they quickly stopped when they realized that Olivia's own lighthearted chuckle was nowhere to be found.

Captain Cragen watched all of this with a weary sadness in his eyes. Until now, they hadn't realized just how important Olivia's role was to the one-six. She truly was the heart of the precinct, the glue that held them together. Whether it was her input on a case, her sympathy with a victim, or even a simple joke or a smile, she was what kept them going. She was the reason they could see the horrors that they saw on a daily basis and still get up every morning. They needed her.

The Captain was startled out of his reverie by his ringing phone, and he hastened to answer it. The detectives who were shamelessly eavesdropping outside his office only caught snippets of the conversation.

"Captain Cragen...Yes...Of course...That's wonderful, we'll be right there...Thank you." Cragen hung up the phone and shouted for Fin and Munch, who arrived impossibly fast.

"What's up, Capt?" Fin asked anxiously. "Is Liv...?"

"She's fine. She's better than fine." Cragen felt a real smile grace his features for the first time in days. "She's awake."

* * *

><p>Casey Novak was pacing inside the pristine hallways of the courthouse, the loud clicking of her heels only adding to her anxiety. She had spent hours preparing for this VERY SPECIAL case, and now all she could do was wait. The ADA jumped slightly when her phone rang, which she was quick to answer.<p>

"This is Novak," she greeted shortly.

"Casey, it's Don."

"Captain Cragen? Is there any news?" A burning fear flared up in her chest. Had something happened?

"Yes, there is news...good news, in fact! Liv jus woke up!"

"Really? Oh, thank God!" Relief spread through her body, quelling her previous anxieties...most of them, anyway.

"Fin, Munch, and I were just about to head to the hospital. Should we come pick you up?"

"No, thanks. I've got work to do right now."

"Are you sure? Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"No, not this," she sighed, even though she wanted more than anything to be with her friend. "I'm doing this for Liv."

* * *

><p>For a while, Elliot and Olivia just stared at each other, their faces still only centimeters apart after their long-awaited kiss. Their eyes were dancing and shimmering with happiness as they studied each other carefully, neither one willing to break the companionable silence between them. Elliot traced his thumb under her cheek, where her bruise had almost completely faded. He was the first to speak.<p>

"I've wanted to do that for so long," he whispered.

"I couldn't agree more," she said, smiling that playful half-grin he knew and loved. "Was it as wonderful as you imagined?"

"Even better. This time, it was real."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "How do you know it's real? How do you know we aren't dreaming?"

"Ouch! What was that for?" Elliot exclaimed. She had reached over and pinched his arm, hard.

"Nope. We're awake!"

"I'm sure there's a much less painful way to arrive at that conclusion!" he said indignantly, rubbing his arm.

"Like what?"

"Like this..."

He leaned forward and captured her lips with his once again. They broke apart when they heard loud footsteps in the hallway and remembered they were in a hospital. A nurse entered the room, and did a double-take.

"You're awake!" she said, consulting her chart. "Dr. Reilly didn't expect you to regain consciousness today!"

"Well, I was rudely awakened by my partner here," she said, playfully slapping Elliot's arm with the little strength she had in her limbs.

"I'll get you some ice. I'm sure you're thirsty. In the meantime, you should try to get some rest," the nurse said, ignoring Olivia's exasperated expression and leaving the room.

"You heard the lady. Get some sleep, Liv."

"Please, Mom, five more minutes?" she whined sarcastically. Then the humor left her eyes and she looked almost frightened.

"What's wrong, Liv? Are you in pain?" he asked anxiously.

"No, it's just, I...ah, never mind..." He raised his eyebrows, and she relented. "It's stupid, I know, but I'm afraid that if I close my eyes, I won't be able to wake up. Or worse, I'll find out that all this was just a dream..." She trailed off, avoiding his gaze.

"Hey," he said, lifting her chin lightly. "It's okay to be a little paranoid sometimes. Heck, I just about went insane in the last day or so. What's important is that you know I'm here for you."

She nodded wordlessly and shifted into a more comfortable position while he sat down in the chair by her bed. She lay motionless for a while, staring at the blank wall opposite her, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw Masters with a gun pointed at Elliot, then at Charlie, then at Dominic. Realizing her efforts were futile, she gave up on the premise of sleep.

"El?" she asked quietly, hoping he wasn't asleep himself.

"Yeah, Liv?"

"There's no way I'm getting to sleep."

He shifted so that he could take her hand again, and rubbed soothing circles on her palm.

"What's wrong? I know there's something bothering you, besides the obvious."

"Well, I have a question, actually. Elliot, was I...I mean..." She stumbled over her speech, trying to form coherent sentences. "Did I...die?"

Elliot was taken aback at the question.

"Well, I mean, the doctor said they lost you a couple times in the ambulance, as well as the OR." He cleared his throat, not wanting to remember seeing her lifeless form in the warehouse. "How did you know?"

"I had these...dreams..." she said carefully. "If you were anyone else, I wouldn't be telling you this, because I don't want people to think I'm losing it, but... They weren't really dreams. They were more like _visions_. I saw a bunch of victims for whom we found justice, and I saw..." Her throat constricted at the thought of the two innocent little girls. "I saw Gracie and Cecilia. They said that Masters had them killed after I left. It was my fault, Elliot. I shouldn't have left them!"

"No, no, Olivia," Elliot whispered. "It wasn't your fault."

She tried to wipe a tear from her eye, but the movement caused her to groan involuntarily as she moved her abdomen. Elliot caught the tear instead, and his thumb lingered on her cheek for a moment before he continued.

"Did you see anyone else?"

"Yeah. I saw my mom." Elliot tensed slightly, having recently been told of what Serena Benson did to her daughter. "She didn't try to apologize or anything, she just wanted to tell me that I needed to go back to the land of the living. She said that Dominic...needed me." This time there was a new kind of regretful silence in the room.

"Liv, did something happen?" Elliot asked, noting the sudden change.

"When Casey came to talk to us right before Masters shot me, she had some news about Dominic," she said sadly. "His former foster mother—the woman who allowed Mike Quinby to sell Dominic—is applying for custody, and... Elliot, it looks like she might get it."

Elliot saw a deep, overwhelming sadness in his partner's eyes. He recognized that look. It was the same defeated expression she had worn when Vivian took Calvin from her. Truthfully, Elliot felt depressed as well; he had really grown to love that little boy over the past few days. He pulled Olivia into a careful hug.

"Liv, it's okay. We'll fight for Dominic, as soon as we get out of here."

Before she could reply, there was a knock on the door. Elliot told them to enter, and Captain Cragen stepped into the room. The moment he saw Olivia awake, a smile spread across his previously grim face.

"Hey, Liv," he said softly. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I've been shot," she rasped truthfully, but she was smiling slightly as well.

"Well, that's understandable, I suppose," he said, still smiling. "You do realize that if you ever scare us like that again, I'll have to fire you?"

"I'll keep that in mind next time someone takes a shot at me," she said, rolling her eyes. "Captain, has the warehouse been searched yet?"

"Yes," Cragen said grimly, his mouth a tight line.

"Did you find any...bodies?"

"Two. Both children," he replied. "The first was a—"

"—Cecilia Halter, age seventeen?" she interrupted. "And the other girl was Grace Davis, age eleven?"

"Well, yes, that's right. How did you...?"

"They told me."

The Captain seemed to understand immediately, for he nodded and didn't press the subject.

"Well, I should let John and Fin come in before you fall asleep," he said, standing up. "Take care of yourself, Benson."

"Always do," she responded lightly. "Well, most of the time..."

The moment the Captain left, Munch and Fin burst through the door.

"Hey, Baby-girl!" Fin exclaimed cheerfully.

"Liv! Welcome back to the land of the living!" Munch added. "What happened? Couldn't pay the ferryman?"

"Oh, you know me, John," Olivia replied. "They thought I'd be too much trouble, so they sent me back."

The three of them laughed, and Fin clapped her lightly on the shoulder.

"Get some rest, Baby-girl. We'll come back tomorrow."

"You take care of her, Stabler," Munch said, following his partner out the door. Elliot nodded seriously.

"I will."

* * *

><p>Olivia was lying in the uncomfortable hospital bed, fighting sleep. After being roused from nightmares twice, she was unwilling to give in to the beckoning of sleep. Soft knocking on the door brought her back to reality.<p>

"Come in," she called weakly.

The door opened to reveal Casey Novak, a small smile on her face.

"Hey, Olivia. I'm glad you're awake," she whispered. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling better, Case. I wish they'd let me go home."

"Well, I think I've got something that'll make you feel even better," Casey said, her smile growing wider. She walked out the door, leaving a confused Olivia to wonder what was going on. The door opened again, and Casey walked in, holding the hand of a little boy.

"Dominic?" Olivia whispered.

Casey smiled at her questioning gaze.

"He's yours now, Liv."

**Hooray for Dominic and Olivia! Please review!**

**Oh, and I have an important question. Should I start to wrap this up, or should I begin a new plot? And if I continue, do you think it should be in a sequel? It just seems like this story is coming to a close, so I wanted to know your opinions.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys! Here I am, updating late, once again! I know it's been a very, VERY long time, but please don't kill me! I believe where we left off, Olivia and Elliot had been finishing up a romantic moment when Casey came in with none other than the adorable Dominic. If you get confused by some of the characters in this chapter, you may want to look back at chapter three, and maybe the chapter where Liv gets shot, to refresh your memory. It shouldn't be too hard to follow if you don't, though.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned SVU, I would be watching Elliot and Olivia's romance on TV right now instead of screaming at the opening credits, "I WILL NOT ACCEPT YOU, NEW CHARACTERS!" (which made my sister give me a weird look). In simple terms, I own nothing.**

_PREVIOUSLY ON LAW AND ORDER: SVU…_

_The door opened again, and Casey walked in, holding the hand of a little boy._

_"Dominic?" Olivia whispered._

_Casey smiled at her questioning gaze._

_"He's yours now, Liv..."_

Before anyone could try to stop him, the young boy had let go of Casey's hand and launched himself across the room. He wasn't tall enough to jump onto the bed, so he just smiled up at Olivia from the ground. Olivia gave Elliot an imploring glance, and he lifted Dominic onto the bed, warning him to be careful.

"'Livia!" Dominic exclaimed, a grin still plastered across his face. "Auntie Casey says I don't have to go with my old mommy anymore! Does that mean I get to stay with you?"

He stared at her with huge blue eyes, and she found herself grinning almost as widely as he was.

"Yeah, Dominic," she said softly. "You can stay with me for as long as you want."

Without any warning, the boy threw his little arms around her neck.

"Then I'm going to live with you _forever_!" he said, his face buried in her shoulder.

Even though she was still extremely sore and every movement caused her pain, Olivia hugged the boy tightly. She smiled again, knowing that all of her dreams were finally coming true. She was going to have a family.

_My work here is done_, Casey thought to herself, her lips twitching at the corners. She turned to leave the room, when she was called back in.

"Casey, wait," Olivia said, as loudly as her strained voice allowed. The prosecutor walked closer to her friend's side. "Thank you. You really are the best."

"Any time," Casey replied. "I'm glad you're okay. I don't know what SVU would do without you."

As Casey left the room, Elliot called after her,

"I take back everything I've ever said about lawyers!"

She chuckled and went back to the precinct, happy that her friend had finally gotten her family.

"'Livia? Auntie Casey said you got hurted," Dominic said sadly. "Are you okay?"

Olivia thought for a moment, unsure how to answer the child. Eventually, it was Elliot who replied,

"Yeah, Buddy, Olivia got hurt pretty bad. It might be a while before she gets better, but you can stay with me until then, okay?"

Dominic looked up at Olivia, his large eyes filled with concern. He glanced from her to Elliot, as if wondering if he could be trusted. Olivia nodded, and he relaxed almost immediately.

"O-Kay!" he agreed. Then he leaned over to whisper something in Elliot's ear. Elliot nodded in reply, and Dominic crawled to the head of the hospital bed and gave Olivia a sloppy, four-year-old kiss. She smiled back at him.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"A kiss to make it better!" he exclaimed. "Now you can come home even _faster_!"

Elliot chuckled and quietly left the hospital room to make a phone call. He dialed the Captain and waited.

_"Captain Cragen."_

"Captain, it's Stabler. I was wondering if I could take a couple sick days. I have to take care of Dominic while Liv's in the hospital."

_"Stabler, not only do you have enough unused vacation time to last a year, you were also recently involved in a potentially traumatic shooting. Take as long as you want, and I'd better not see your ugly mug at the station for at least a week. Are we clear?"_

"Yes, Sir!"

_"Oh, and Elliot? You take care of them."_

"Will do, Capt. Will do."

He shut his cellphone and smiled as he walked back to Olivia's room. Cragen's tone had been almost threatening when he'd told him to take care of Olivia, as if threats were necessary. When he opened the door, he couldn't keep the grin from spreading across his face. His partner was fast asleep, with Dominic curled up next to her. Her arm was around him, and he had his curly head buried into the crook of her elbow. The scene was so perfect, Elliot's heart swelled in his chest. He took a seat next to the bed and continued to smile at them, content to stand guard over the woman and child that had stolen his heart.

* * *

><p>"Careful, Liv."<p>

"Elliot, I'm fine!"

"That's it, gently…"

"I was _shot_, not _paralyzed_. Calm down."

The nurse looked on in amazement as she watched the two detectives bicker. She was suddenly wishing she hadn't volunteered to help the patient stand on her own.

"I don't see why I need the wheelchair, anyway."

"Olivia, you _know_ the rules. You've been begging for them to let you out of bed all day, so quit whining."

"I'm not whining!"

"You certainly are!"

"I am _not_!"

"Are, too!"

The partners glared at each other for a moment, and the nurse was beginning to worry she'd have to intervene, when they simultaneously burst into laughter. The nurse rolled her eyes and left, knowing a lost cause when she saw one.

"You okay, Liv?" Elliot asked. He had seen her wince slightly out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, I just laughed too hard, I guess," she assured him. He opened his mouth to say something, but she quickly interrupted. "Don't you _dare_ apologize for making me laugh, Elliot Stabler!"

"That's not what I was going to say!"

She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Okay, fine, maybe I was…" he conceded, chuckling. "You know me too well."

"I certainly hope I know you well, after being partners for over a decade!"

Elliot pushed her down the hall with Dominic riding in her lap, which was probably against the hospital rules.

"Hey, the Captain said that Huang was coming down to talk to you today. Not as an official evaluation or anything, just to see how you're holding up. Is that okay?"

"Sure, I guess. I don't mind talking to Huang, as long as it's unofficial. I hate Psych Evaluations. They make me feel like my mind is being read." She shuddered.

"Who doesn't?" Elliot agreed wholeheartedly. "Speak of the devil... Hey, George!"

"Morning, Elliot," Huang greeted, smiling at the detectives and their young charge. "Olivia, how are you feeling?"

"Better, actually," she replied, smiling back at him. "I'll be back to busting down doors in no time!"

Huang's gaze drifted to Dominic, who had his arms around Olivia's neck and his face hidden in her shirt. He gave Olivia an inquisitive look, and she responded by whispering that he was shy.

"Well, Olivia, the reason I'm here is because there are some people who want to talk to you. Are you up for a few visitors?" Huang asked, giving her one of those scrutinizing, 'don't-lie-to-me-and-say-you're-fine-if-you're-not-because-I'm-a-psychologist-and-I-can-tell' looks.

"I'm more than ready for some visitors," she said truthfully. "Really, I feel much better."

"Alright, I'll go get them. I told them to wait in the lobby."

Huang disappeared, leaving the detectives to wonder who he was fetching. Moments later, their question was answered when the doors swung open and a flash of sandy brown hair burst into the room, tackling Olivia in a fierce hug.

"Olivia!" he said, nearly hysterical. "Olivia, I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Charlie?"

Memories of the spunky green-eyed boy flashed before her eyes. Charlie Douglas had been the leader-of-sorts in Preston/Master's warehouse. He had been the last to leave the area in which the children had been kept, and had almost been shot himself.

"I'm so sorry!" he cried, finally releasing all of his pent-up sorrow. "Mr. Preston shot you because of me! I'm so, _so_ sorry, Olivia!"

Olivia rubbed the boy's back comfortingly as he clung to her for dear life. For a moment, she was stunned into silence by all the injustice this innocent boy had suffered, at no older than eleven or twelve.

"Charlie, it's not your fault. Preston didn't shoot me because of you. He shot me because he was an evil, evil man," Olivia said, once her voice had returned. "Shh, it's okay...Everything's going to be alright..."

Charlie stopped crying, but he still refused to release her from his fervent hug. Before Olivia could say anything else, the doors opened again, revealing five young girls. The first was Krissy Douglas, who was in her teens. Krissy, Charlie's sister, had escaped the warehouse, and Preston/Masters had tortured Olivia in hopes of discovering her whereabouts.

"Olivia..." she said, briefly joining her brother in hugging the detective. "All I can say is... Thank you."

Next was Julie Reynolds, fifteen. She thanked Olivia and ruffled Dominic's hair, causing the little boy to bust into fits of giggles. Julie smiled too, forgetting the pain of the past for one blissful moment.

After Julie came Georgianna Quincy. Georgie was one of the youngest now that Gracie was gone, and she hugged Olivia with an innocence that made both detectives want to laugh and cry at the same time.

"Thank you for coming back for us, Olivia!" she said, once she had let go.

When Anna approached the group, Dominic's face lit up with excitement. Anna was only fourteen, but she had been in the warehouse the longest. Because she was so mature, she had become a sort of caretaker for Dominic. She hugged the boy tightly, then embraced Olivia with a whispered, 'thank you'.

The last girl stood quietly, almost shamefully, a few feet away. Olivia held out the arm that wasn't already hugging Charlie, wondering why she was so fearful.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" she asked, hoping Preston hadn't done something terrible to Sarah while she was gone. Sarah threw her arms around Olivia like Charlie had, crying softly.

"I'm sorry, Olivia. I'm sorry I let that man catch me. I'm sorry I drew you into the warehouse so he could capture you. I'm sorry you got hurt; it's all my fault!" she finally exclaimed.

"Oh, Honey, none of this is your fault. None of you are to blame. Besides, if Preston hadn't taken me, you would all still be in that warehouse!" Olivia said soothingly. Soon there were several tearful faces, and everyone was hugging her at the same time.

Elliot smiled as her saw the joyful tears sliding, unnoticed, down his partner's face. He squeezed her shoulder supportively as the children crowded around her.

Even though they were thanking her, Olivia couldn't help but feel that she should be thanking them. Those children had taught her to hope, and she admired the courage each of them possessed. She felt an overwhelming sense of peace as the small arms enveloped her.

From the doorway, Doctor Huang and Captain Cragen were watching the touching scene unfold.

"How did they convince you to bring them here again?" Cragen asked.

"They didn't have to. I could tell that there were some unresolved issues when I interviewed them, and I thought a trip to visit Olivia would be beneficial. Evidently, I was right..."

"And not just for the kids," the Captain added, watching as his detective was embraced in a large group-hug. "I may not be a doctor, but I think Liv is going to recover from this, and she will be stronger because of it."

"I think you're right," Doctor Huang agreed. "She's going to be just fine."

There was a moment of silence as they continued to watch the joyful scene.

"Do you know what this is, George?" the Captain said, indicating the children and Olivia.

"What?"

"This is the reason we do our jobs."

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you're ready? Because if you want to stay for a few more days..."<p>

Olivia rolled her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"Elliot, please. I have been begging to get out of the hospital since the moment I woke up from my coma."

"Actually," Elliot corrected, "I'm fairly certain that the first thing you did after you came out of your coma was make out with one Elliot Stabler..."

"We did not _make out_, Elliot!" she exclaimed, exasperated.

"Whatever you say... Anyway, whatever you want to call it, it was still the first thing you did when you woke up."

"Okay, Elliot, the _second _thing, then! Either way, I've wanted to leave from day one."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Liv, I just can't help being a little overprotective of you."

"A _little_?"

Olivia's retort was interrupted when Dominic returned from the bathroom and hopped onto Olivia's wheelchair. All arguments were forgotten when he curled up in Olivia's lap, smiling impossibly wide. He looked up at her and, somehow, his grin doubled in size.

"I love you, 'Livia," he whispered. Soon, he was asleep.

Elliot began to push the wheelchair carefully out of the room. The three of them, a family, were finally going home.

Olivia's eyelids began to feel heavy from all of the pain medication they were giving her. They kept fluttering closed, then opening again. Elliot stopped pushing and knelt next to her, pressing a kiss on her cheek.

"I love you Olivia," he whispered. Soon, she was asleep.

_THE END._

**Well, guys, this is probably the end, at least of this story. I'm probably going to write a sequel, but I need your help. I have ideas for fluffy stuff that could happen in the sequel, but I don't have any ideas for the overall plot. I really like action-y scenes, or scenes where Olivia gets hurt trying to save Elliot (I know it's strange, but it's SO fun to write those…), but right now I am fresh out of creativity. If you have any ideas at all, could you please put them in a review or a message? Thank you.**

**Well, I guess this is the end! *sniffle*. Or is it...? (*Dun, dun, dun*)**


End file.
